Walk in the Park
by Plage
Summary: Rich girl Sookie starts a friendship with the gardener's son. It's all a secret, but will it stay that way? AH - Teenage Eric and Sookie.   M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1: Teen Dream

**This is my first story, and I hope you'll enjoy it. Feedback would be great, since I'm still figuring things out. :]  
**

**Chapter 1. Teen dream  
**  
I was dreaming peacefully, that was until the curtains of my bedroom were pulled open with an enthusiastic goodmorning. It was our maid, who had been working in our family for nearly 30 years now. She always was the first one I saw in the morning. If I had to pick her or the annoying sound of an alarmclock it wouldn't really be much of a competition. Her name was Rebecca, but for me it was just Becky. Well, that was when my parents weren't around. They were a bit on the formal side and not very fond of nicknames.  
The Sunday morning sun woke me up in a soothing manner and I sat up, leaning with my back against the padded headboard. I pulled my hair in a pony tail, and greeted Becky with a groggy morning voice.  
"Mornin' Becky."  
Becky turned to me, with a warm smile on her face. I loved her smile. I don't even remember the last time my parents genuinly smiled at me, or were proud of me. Becky was always smiling.  
"Good morning Sookie," she put down some fresh towels on the foot of my bed,"should I bring up some tea? Or breakfast?"  
I shook my head.  
"No thank you. I'm just going to take a quick shower and eat breakfast downstairs."  
Becky nodded and left my room, taking the warm and friendly athmosphere with her. Now it was just me again.

After a couple of minutes just staring at my wallpaper, which was a soft yellow with an elegant flower print, I jumped up and decided I would spend my day productive. Even if it would be just to keep my mind of how unhappy I actually was. I showered quickly, blowdried my hair and brushed it thoroughly. Then I walked through my room, and into my walk-in-closet. That was one of the plusses of being a rich kid, I guess.  
Although you would expect that it would be filled with designer stuff, it wasn't. I was more of a comfy and casual girl, with the exceptional 'my-parents-picked-this-outfit-because-it-makes-them-look-good'. Somehow I always hated those outfits. They never even tried to include my opinion, I just had to trust them on theirs, and I so never did. Eventually I picked my favorite grey sweater and combined it with some washed jeans and all stars. No need to dress up today, thank God.

Most girls of my age could enjoy weekend's, have fun with their friends. I wasn't allowed to. When my parents hadn't organized some boring high tea or lunch or dinner, I would be forced to just sit home all day.  
I didn't have many friends. Just Amelia and Sam, who weren't actually allowed to come over, but who still sneaked in occassionally. Becky would never tell on me to my parents and always kept her mouth shut.  
I wished that I could go to a normal school, so I could see them every day. My parents prefered home schooling, however. They said it would be better for me, not getting my good manners spoiled by those -in their eyes- worthless boys and girls with no manners. My teacher mrs. Fortenberry also was one of the reasons I loathed it. After boring and frustating lessons Becky was the one who made me feel better in an instant.  
I wouldn't know what I'd do without her actually.

My route to the breakfast room -yes we had a special breakfast room- took me through the main hall of the second floor, which had high ceilings and huge windows, I noticed it was really nice weather and decided I would go for a walk after breakfast, my homework was already finished anyway. Becky had already put a plate with scrambled eggs and some toast on the table, the eggs looked delicious and tasted even better. I polished it of quickly and placed my plate in the sink, since I didn't feel the need to let Becky do everything, I didn't want to become spoiled, like the girls you see on MTV.

When I stepped outside I felt so much better. We had a beautiful garden, it was huge and was so green and I just loved it. The walks always gave me time to let every sorrow slide away, and I just could take a step back and think everything over. Just as always, I started to walk in a random direction. After a while I decided it would be nice to have a look at the lake, since you could lie there in the grass without getting disturbed, and right now that was what I wanted most. The walk carried me along a little temple, one that my father had placed there since he was in love with the Roman architecture of that time. I loved that temple and it was one of my favorite places, you could find me there often reading a book or listening to music on my Ipod, singing along. Another one of the plusses of it being secluded that nobody had to listen to my awful singing. Or that I had to be emberassed.

Now don't get your hopes up. The place wasn't huge, nor special. It's one of those little buildings you saw in English landscape gardens, one of my fathers passions. That was one of the few things I actually appreciated about my father, his love for history, art and landscaping. I remembered that as a small girl, he would tell me all the stories about the gods and goddesses, the heroes and the battle of Troy. He would also show me pictures of gardens and flowers in his old books, me sitting on his lap, he smoking his pipe. I wondered why and when we actually stopped with that, propably it had something to do with growing up. Was I the one that made us become so distant, or did my parents were responsible? We were an unhappy family I didn't even know what caused it.  
Eventually, I reached my destination. I let myself fall down on the grass and closed my eyes, it didn't take long before I drifted off.

"Hey. Are you okay?"  
The question was accompanied by a little tap on my arm. I sat up quickly, wondered how long I had been sleeping, when I faced the person who had woken me up I forgot what I actually wanted to ask. He was kneeling beside me, his light blue eyes giving me a worried look. His face was beautiful, almost angelic, strands of long blond hair hung around it.  
"Are you okay?"  
I nodded.  
"Can you stand up?" I nodded again. "Ok then. Let's stand up then."

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me up, you could definitely tell he had some muscles. After we stood he released me, I wanted to scream 'no don't let go just hold me', but that's a bit weird to say when you've just met someone. _Talk. Say something. Say anything. Smile. No don't smile you'll creep him out.  
_"Thanks. I'm Sookie. It's okay really, I guess I drifted off."  
A grin appeared on his face, it made him even more handsome. I swear in that moment I could've just melted in liquid Sookie.  
"That's good to now. I didn't really feel like discovering a dead body on my first day of work." Now it was my turn to look confused.  
"Pardon?"  
"Oh sorry. I'm the new employee, the gardener, well his son actually, but now I'm also working here, fulltime. My name's Eric."

We shook hands. His hand were huge compared to mine. He was also very tall. The jeans he was wearing were slung low on his hips and had some dirt on it around the knees, his black t-shirt was spotless, however. As I reached his face I noticed he was smirking at me. A blush krept on my face, what if I had been drooling? After all, the guy, Eric, was someone worth drooling over.  
"Shouldn't you be working?" He looked a little offended by that question, oops. "No no, not like that. Not trying to be condenscending or bitchy. I'm just a bit drowzy and slow." I felt my face become red again while his facial features relaxed, and he smirked again. Did he know how he affected me? How he left me speechless and not being able to think straight? Simply, by just standing in front of me? Luckily, he started talking again.  
"My first workday consists of making myself known with this place. It's beautiful, you're very lucky."  
My eyes fell to the grass. I shrugged. If he only knew.  
"I guess." He gave me the concerned look again.  
"I should go back now. Homework and stuff."

Such a lame excuse, but I didn't want the conversation ending in me talking about my feelings, I came here to actually escape them. I turned around and made my way over to the path that led past the tempel. When the open field of grass turned into forest I heard someone running to me. When I turned around I noticed it was Eric, who else? He breathed a little heavy and looked a bit flushed from running after me, he still looked amazing though.  
"Do you want to meet up tomorrow? I'd really like to get to know you better Sookie."  
I smiled, figuring there wouldn't be much harm in just talking and getting to know eachother better. As long as we avoided my issues.  
"Sure. Do you know where the temple is?" he nodded,"I'll meet you there tommorow at 8 then."  
He smiled and said he would be there, he also said he was looking forward to it, the sentence accompanied with a smile. It made my stomach do somersaults. We parted, taking different paths. When I reached my house it was already dinner time. How long had I been out? It didn't matter to me, because it lead me to meeting Eric, who was now haunting my thoughts. His smile, his voice and his soft blue eyes. I really couldn't wait untill tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2: At Home

**Thanks for the alerts and all that. I didn't expect that at all. So here's chapter 2. Enjoy.**

Getting up the next morning wasn't such a big problem as it usually was. From the moment I had opened my eyes I felt nothing but excitement. Becky noticed, but didn't ask any questions. I would tell her later anyway, she could keep a secret. My parents wouldn't look too kindly on me being friends with the gardener's son. They were friendly to his father, and probably to Eric too, but never showed any signs of friendship. They kept their conversations strictly bussiness, and never inside the house. No, my mother liked to keep the house clean.

My father talked more to him than my mother, however. The garden was my father's baby. I often found him and the gardener, whose name I didn't even know since my parents never bothered to tell, bend over a design and discussing changes to the garden. My parents often made comments like "the gardener did a great job" or "we're lucky to have such a great gardener" during dinner, it made me feel sorry for him. He worked his ass off, but my parents gave him almost no recognition whatsoever. How the hell did he work here for so long?

After a quick shower I threw on a tshirt and some jeans, and headed downstairs for breakfast with a happy skip in my step.

My father was still eating breakfast, while reading the newspaper. He propably had the morning of, and started bussiness later in the day. It was a rare thing, but it made me feel a little better, he wasn't a total workaholic.

"Morning papa."

He mumbled a response, and continued reading the bussiness section of the newspaper. If I wasn't used to being greeted like this it might have bothered me, but it didn't.

I sat myself down and took a bite of my toast and a sip of my coffee, leaving the rest of my breakfast untouched, too many emotions flew through my mind.

"You finished your homework?" it was the standard question my father asked during breakfast.

"Yup." I answered, popping the p.

"In this house we say 'yes' and not 'yup'." My dad responded irritated. I shrugged. Too happy to care about your stupid rules, I thought.

My father stood up, folded his newspaper, tucked it under his arm and left the room. Becky soon entered the room to clean up his empty and cup.  
"How are you feeling today? Ready for your lessons?"

As I thought about the reason why I was so happy today I smiled like an idiot.  
"I feel great, thank you, and yes I'm ready."

Becky winked at me and left the room. I followed with my plate and cup and put it in the sink, like I always did. I said goodbye to Becky and went to my room to grab my books. Looking at the clock I realized I was running late and sprinted downstairs.

Mrs. Fortenberry was already waiting for me and was obviously not happy. Excuses were made and we started the schoolday. It was hard for me to concentrate, the teacher noticed and had to pull me back into reality more often than normal. What can I say, I'm a dreamer.

Finally, after what felt like the longest lessons ever I was free to go.

It was only 3 in the afternoon, dinner would be served around 6, so I took this oppertunity to text Amelia, filling her in on the situation.

We texted a lot, since we didn't see eachother often. Her parents were also wealthy and she got everything she asked for and more, but she wasn't arrogant and spoiled. That, I liked about her. It was easier for her to come over, and I saw her more often than Sam. Her parents often brought her along when they were invited here. I always looked forward to those times, talking in person was always better than texting.

It didn't take her long to reply.

_Is he hot?x_

I should mention she's very direct and almost never thinks before asking or saying things. Even in front of her parents, but they didn't mind, while my parents would freak out. It wasn't lady-like.

My reply was just a simple 'yes', and after that we dropped the subject. Amelia knew that I was a bit more shy than she was and wouldn't probably tell her much, even though I really wanted to. I also didn't wanted to get my hopes up, we had only met once, it was possible that he just wanted a new friend. While waiting on her to reply I made my homework, so I didn't have to worry about that this evening.

Becky knocked on my door and called me for dinner. My nerves were now really making themselves known, only 2 more hours.

Dinner was as usual very quiet, converstations limited to school, homework and bussiness. After we had finished I noticed that there still was 30 minutes left before meeting with Eric. The walk wasn't that long, but I decided to take some time for that, since I really didn't want to be late.

I grabbed a sweater from my closet and checked myself in the mirror, pulling my hair in a high ponytail and putting on some mascara. Normally I didn't really bothered about putting on make-up, but this was an exception.

Soon I was out and walking. It was getting a bit chilly and I was glad that I had brought a sweater with me, because it wouldn't take long before it got cold.  
I arrived at the temple a little early, expecting Eric to not show up for a while, but to my surprise he was already there, waiting on the marble steps. As he heard me approaching he jumped up and started walking towards me. We greeted eachother and sat down on the steps of the temple.

"How was your day Sookie?"

Was he really interested? He sounded like he was, so I just started talking to him. How such a simple question can start such a great conversation. We just sat there on the step, talking about our interests, music and passions. He told me he wanted to take his dad's job after he would retire, he had a motorcycle and that his favorite food were hamburgers. They might seem to meaningless facts to many, but they meant a lot to me. In return I told him about my interest in art and nature and how I loved to sing even though I really was awful. He laughed at that last part.  
Eric's laugh brought the butterflies in my stomach to life.  
He also told me about his youth. How his mother had passed away when he was young, and how he was raised by his grandparents, because there wasn't a school in this area. Eric also told me the reason why he wasn't in school anymore, he was expelled. I didn't know why, but he promised me to tell me later. Now it was my turn to talk about myself, ofcourse I didn't. Instead of filling Eric in on my life, I just chose for a change of subject. Eric looked a bit confused and worried, but let it go, following the new line of the conversation.

Time flew by, and it was getting late. After a short comfortable silence Eric took a deep breath and let his hand slide through his long, golden hair.  
"We really should get going. Your parents might get worried."

He didn't really seem happy about it, but he wás right. Even though I didn't want him to be.  
"Yeah." Was my simple reply, my voice filled with disapointment. Eric noticed.  
"Aw you miss me already?" he gave me a crooked grin, I gave him a little slap on his shoulder in reply.  
"Don't get your hopes up mister."

He chuckled and grabbed my hand to pull me on my feet. He didn't let go, and I didn't pull away. We just stood there for a while just holding hands and staring into eachothers eyes, forgetting the world around us. Suddenly a bird shot out from the trees, scaring me to death. Eric laughed at my reaction.

"Someone here doesn't like birds."

I pulled my hand away from his and placed it on my hip,"I'm not scared of birds Eric. It just came out of nowhere."

"Sure," he smirked and took a hold of my hand again, pulling me into the direction of my house,"let's get you home safe. Good thing that I'm here to protect you. Birds got nothing on me."

We both laughed again. We joked around for the rest of the walk, and a feeling of dread came over me when I spotted my house in the distance, fun time's over. Eric let out a deep sigh and squeezed my hand, I guess he also didn't want to say goodbye yet.

"Can I see you again tommorow? Same place, same time?" he asked.

Again with the butterflies in my stomach.

"Ofcourse. I'd love to."  
He smiled and I did the same. He gave me a hug and started walking back, after he wished me a good night. Even if he was a gardener, he sure as hell had manners.

Two weeks passed by, Eric and I saw eachother almost every day. If weren't together I would think about him. I even dreamt about him, about him kissing me goodnight, instead of just hugging me. Too bad dreams are just dreams.  
The temple became our spot, just for us. We talked and listened to eachothers Ipods, he had a good taste in music. It could've been flawless had it not been for that one Celine Dion song. I had laughed my ass off the first time I scrolled over it. Even though he always kept saying "I don't know why it's even on it", it still wasn't deleted.  
What a big faker.

We became closer and closer. He could tell when I was unhappy, and I could tell when he was irritated, we could just tell by looking at eachother. The butterflies still wouldn't back down when he grabbed my hand to escort me home, by the way, nor did they when he hugged me as we said goodbye. The goodbyes became harder, our hugs became longer as we both lingered, not wanting to part.

Once again our time together had ended. As Eric hugged me he whispered in my ear,"let your window open tonight."  
A shiver ran down my spine and I managed to nod, my body felt numb right now. Eric chuckled softly at my reaction and placed a soft kiss on my tempel. That was new, but I didn't mind at all. Unfortunately, he let go and started walking  
"See you tonight. Don't forget." He shouted over his shoulder.  
I wanted to say something back, but I couldn't, realizing that I had it bad.


	3. Chapter 3: Tonight's Today

**Here it is, chapter 3. It's a bit cheesy and smutty, but I let them have some fun before things turn shitty.  
Enjooooy.**

**

* * *

**

How was I supposed to go to bed, knowing that Eric would surprise me with something. Not knowing what would happen was tormenting. I changed into my pyjamas, in case Becky might wish me a good night. I didn't want to burden her with my secret just yet, because it was killing me, and I didn't feel the need to make it hard for her too.

My parents noticed a shift in my attitude, it was obvious they did, but didn't ask about it. The only thing they mentioned every once in a while were my walks in the evening, and why they had become so frequent. They didn't want my schoolwork to suffer, and I made sure it didn't, loosing the little freedom I had would make my life worse anyway.

Eric had left me pretty much in the dark, only mentioning that I had to leave my window open tonight. He didn't even mention how late, or what he was planning to do. I hated surprises like this.

_Calm down Sookie, just find something to do. Read a book._

I decided to follow my own advice and grabbed a book from the little oak bookcase beneath the window. I let myself fall down on the bed, leaving out a big breath of air, frustrated and nervous. Bad combination.

There was a soft knock on the door, followed by Becky's friendly voice. She wished me a good night, and that I didn't need to worry.

Wait, what? I jumped up and ran to the door. Becky startled a bit, not expecting my sudden movement. She quickly recovered and smiled.

"You're not the only one who talks to Eric, Sookie," she grabbed my hand, letting me know she had my back,"he makes you very happy, anyone can see that."

She took a deep breath.

"But you must realize things can go very wrong, for the both of you. Maybe even more for Eric. Do you understand?"

I nodded, telling her that I did. Yes, my parents would be furious, but Eric would be in bigger trouble, without a doubt. His father could loose his job. Leaving them both without a home or income.  
She gave me a quick hug and left to go to bed herself. My parents were already sleeping, they never stayed up late. So soon I would be the only one awake.

Normally, around this time I would feel tired, but now it was different. I didn't feel tired at all. Instead I felt like I could run a whole marathon, and even then have trouble falling asleep.

I sat down on my bed, grabbed my book and started reading. What the story was about I couldn't tell you. I often caught myself reading the same line over and over, not taking in any of the words on the paper.

Around 1, I heard someone walk over the gravel surrounding our house. I ran to my window in record time, peeking my head outside. Eric stood there, dressed in a black hoodie and jeans. Blond hair peeking from underneath the hood, flowing in the soft breeze.

I felt warmth flow all over me.

Wait. Something was off.

"What the hell. Why are you wearing flipflops?"

He looked down at his feet, and up again, smirking.

"Hello to you too," he wiggled his left foot,"I just felt like dressing up. Now get down here."

My mouth went from smiling to hanging wide open.

"You want me to climb down?" what was he thinking?

He just started chuckling and shaking his head.

"Ofcourse not lover. Just sneak out. I don't want you breaking any bones. I'll wait for you at the front door."

I didn't have to be told twice. Not only did he call me lover, but he was also here. Just for me, in the middle of the night. Never in my life would I have thought that I would be doing this, sneaking out. Not to mention the really hot guy waiting for me downstairs.  
I quickly changed into a pair of old jeans and a thick sweater, which was a little on the big side, so I was warm. Without making too much noise I ran downstairs and out the front door.

Eric stood there waiting, leaning against a statue of a lion. As soon as he saw me, a twinkle appeared in his eyes and he gave me the most radiant smile anyone could ever receive. It was a good thing he grabbed my hand, or I would have collapsed right there in front of him.  
We were standing close to eachother. I could hear his breathing loud and clear, there was total silence all around us. Eric was the one that broke the silence.

"You.."

He fumbled with my fingers. Was he nervous?

"You look beautiful.. this night. Always actually."

It sounded like he had some trouble admitting it. That was rare, Eric having trouble with expressing himself. It surprised me. The way he said it, what he said, because right now I was not really dressed to impress. It actually sounded like he wasn't sure about how I would react. Eric looked more nervous than a few moment before, I hadn't responded yet. I gave his hand a soft squeeze.

"Just tell me that you like me too so I don't have to feel like an idiot right now, Sookie."

That was more like the Eric I knew. With a shaky voice I replied;

"I like you Eric," he smiled at me,"I like you a lot."

We were now grinning at eachother like idiots, a weight lifted of our shoulders. Words couldn't describe the way I was feeling in that moment. Becky was right, he did make me very happy.

"You scared me there for a minute. You know that? Now let's go. I have something to show you."

Eric pulled me with him, leading me over the big open grassfield that was our front garden, and into a small gravel path surrounded by tall hedges. How he could navigate here was beyond me, it was dark all around us. Normally I would have freaked out, but Eric's fingers laced with mine made me feel very safe.

The confidence in knowing what to do showed how good he knew this place, he probably knew it better than me, and I've lived here all my life. He has only been here for a few weeks.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To here."

He led me around a corner, onto a little field of grass. There were christmaslights hanging in the bushes surrounding it, illuminating the many colours of the flowers. I let out a little gasp at the first sight of it. Eric really outdid himself.  
"You like?"

You could hear he was very pleased with himself, but he had every right to be.  
"It's amazing."

Eric turned me around so we were facing eachother. His big, strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer. My hands found their place on his chest, fumbling with the string from his hood. Eric leaned in to whisper in my ear.  
"Everything for you."

His lips grazed the skin on my cheek when he pulled back, leaving a trail of warmth. Our gazes locked, his stare set me on fire. He leaned in again, it felt like it was in slowmotion, and softly touched my lips with his. The moment was cute, but soon we were kissing like our lives depended on it. We definitely were on the same page.  
My hands were in his hair, fisting it. It would be a mess when we were finished, but if it were up to me, that would take a while. Eric was an amazing kisser, even better than I had expected. He probably had a lot of experience in that department, more than me.  
I had only kissed once before in my life, and that was only once. This was my second kiss ever. When I was 15 a son of one of my parents friends and I shared a moment in the kitchen. It was weird, and awful. So was the guy, Quinn, he kept calling me babe. That made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

This on the other hand felt so right, and so good. Unfortunately, people need oxygen. We pulled apart, panting. His eyes were full of passion, and immediately found mine again. His hair really was a mess, it made me giggle that I had actually done that. Eric soon realized what I was giggling about and rolled his eyes dramaticly, pulling his hood over his head.

"If you're going to laugh at me, I might as well go home."

"Oh no you won't."

I pulled him to me roughly. Letting my lips crash on his. After I don't know how long Eric abruptly stopped and looking at his watch.

"Shit."

"What's the problem?"

"I have to get up in an hour."

"Oh."

My eyes fell down. I didn't want it to end just yet. It felt so perfect, just us. Nobody was here to judge us, or to pull us apart. Just me and Eric, expressing the feelings that had been haunting us for way to long. Eric noticed the shift in my emotions, and lifted my chin, making our gazes lock.

"Don't be sad," he kissed my forehead,"this is not the end."

I nodded and closed my eyes. Savoring being close to him, the way he smelled, the way he breathed. I tried to take in everything, that remembered me of this moment.

Once again Eric walked me home, like he always did. There was total silence again, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Every once in a while we would look at eachother, and smile.

We kissed at my front door again, untill Eric really had to leave. I may have watched his ass as he walked away. What can I say, he did have a nice ass.

When I closed my bedroom door I let myself slide down on the ground. Somehow this all felt like a dream, and that I could wake up anytime. I pinched in my arm, nope, not dreaming. So this actually had happened. What did that mean? Were we together now? What if Eric wanted to tell my parents.

No, I'm not going to ruin this night by thinking like that. I stood up, walked to my bed and let myself fall down. Not even bothering with putting on pyjamas. I was way to tired.

It didn't take long before I fell into a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter 4: Summertime Clothes

**Here it is, chapter 4. This was a tricky one. Anyway, enjooooy. :]  
You'll propably hate me for the end. I'll go and hide now ok.**

**Chapter 4**

Silently I ate my breakfast. My mother was on the left side of the table, my father on the right side. They had no idea that I had snuck out last night. Becky on the other hand, knew all about it. When she woke me I was still wearing my normal clothes, and ofcourse Eric had filled her in on his surprise. It was nice to have someone who was genuinly happy for us, and who didn't judge. I told her everything about what happened, leaving out the kissing-part. Even though I could tell Becky anything, telling her what I did with boys was making me feel uncomfortable. She also didn't know about Quinn, or at least pretended not to know.

"Sookie. There's something we need to tell you." My mother turned in my direction.  
"There are some friends coming over next week. You know the Compton's right?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"They are bringing their son, Bill, with them," my mother said smiling. She was up to something, I knew her good enough to know that. My father joined the conversation, with the same proud face my mother had.  
"It is your task to keep him busy. Take him for a walk or something."  
Suddenly it all dawned on me. They were trying to set me up with the son of the most boring people ever. Couldn't I decide anything for myself around here? I wanted to jump up and shout at them, making it clear that it was my life. But that wouldn't change anything to the situation, it would make it worse. So I decided to deal with it, and forced a smile on my face. The smile that I had named the 'crazy-Sookie'. Because whenever I looked at myself in the mirror, there would be a girl looking like the biggest lunatic on the planet.  
"Ofcourse. I'd love to."  
My parents were very pleased with my answer. A couple of splendid's from my father, and a pat on my hand from my mother sealed the deal. The crazy smile never left my face. How they thought I was excited about the whole thing was beyond me, maybe I'm a good actress. That would be a great career, it would take me far from here.  
My mother had a one-way conversation with me about how great Bill Compton was, how well-mannered and handsome. The whole thing made me feel uncomfortable, not just because I was thrown in the deep, but also the fact that it was such a big deal to my folks. Like their lives depended on this one meeting. But to be honest, seeing my parents actually giving attention to me felt really nice, even if it wasn't the best kind of attention. They wanted the best for me in their own weird, controlling way.

After breakfast I called Eric, breaking him the news.  
"Yes lover?"  
"Hey Eric. There's something I need to tell you, but don't freak out okay?"  
"What? What's wrong?"

He sounded very confused, making me feel bad for him, he had no idea what would be going on. After a short silence I took a deep breath and started talking. Telling him about what my parents had arranged for me, and how I really didn't want to, but how I owed them. He was silent the whole way through, it freaked me out. Eric was a person that always knew what to say, him being speechless was not a good sign.  
"Eric? Are you still there."  
Still nothing.  
"Eric?"  
"Yes," he sounded irritated. I could hear him sight on the other end of the line.  
"Are you going to tell him to fuck off? That you're not interested?"  
Now it was my turn to sigh. This conversation was taking the wrong turn.  
"You know I can't do that. My parents.."  
"Fuck that," he interrupted.  
"I know that we can't really be together, but you can't just go hang out with another guy just to please your parents. You don't even know him, and it sounds like they already think about you two getting married."  
My mind was in overdrive, thinking about what I should say. Eric did have a point, I did all this to please my parents, and it hurt him. It was like he and I never happened.  
"Look Eric. It's not going to change anything between us."  
I was really getting emotional, tears sprung in my eyes. A loud sob escaped from my mouth.  
"Sookie. Don't cry. Please don't cry. It's okay. I overreacted. I know that I can trust you."  
Eric's voice was filled with comfort, the irritation was gone. It made me cry even harder. I had found the most perfect human being ever, and all I did was hurt him. I didn't deserve him. I couldn't even introduce him to my parents, showing them how glad I was to have found him.  
"Come and meet me at the temple. I don't want to comfort you over the phone."  
I sniffed and whiped some tears away from my eyes. My cheeks were soaked.  
"I'll be there." I answered with a trembling voice.

We hung up and met at the temple. Eric comforted me like he said he would, hugging me tight and peppering my face with soft kisses. The Bill-subject wasn't mentioned anymore. Maybe that was for the best, because I didn't want to fight with Eric. When it all came down to it, we just wanted to have fun, because it could go wrong quickly. The phone-conversation was just an indication of how rough things could get. Even though our situation wasn't perfect, I wouldn't want to change it for the world.  
We made out like sneaky teenagers were supposed to in the temple, instead of behind the school, and cuddled in the sunlight on the grass, whispering sweet things in eachother's ears. Things couldn't be more perfect and I grew more and more attached to Eric. It was weird how big an influence he had over me, how just one touch of him could affect me the way it did. Maybe I was falling in love with him?

Too soon it was the day that I had dreaded most. Just before Bill and his parents would arrive I snuck into my room and called Eric. Immediately after hearing his voice I felt ten times better.  
"This is going to suck so hard." Stucking my bottom lip out for no one. Eric let out a soft snicker, amused by my lack of enthousiasm.  
"It's allright, lover.. I'll be working in the garden at the little fountain, so if you need me you know where to find me.."  
"I'll definitely come and see you."  
"You should know that I'm quite a sight when working," he replied with a seductive tone, "it's also pretty warm today, so I guess I won't be needing a shirt."  
My mouth fell open. Eric working, without a shirt. That really would be something. His soft chuckle pulled me from my fantasy world.  
"What were you thinking about?" the smug bastard.  
"Is that your way of distracting me? Talking nasty?"  
"Maybe, is it working?"  
"Stop being so pleased with yourself."

A loud laugh came from the other line. It was my favorite sound on the planet, I couldn't help but laugh along with him. His laugh simply was contagious.  
When Becky knocked on my door we said our goodbyes and hung up. I quickly changed into a yellow sundress, ignoring the outfit my parents had picked out for me, and checked my hair and makeup. _Let's get this over with, _I thought to myself.  
I followed Becky down the stairs, into the main hall. My parents were talking enthousiasticly to their friends. Their friends dominated the conversation with their southern drawl. The woman was very tall, dressed in a light brown pantsuit and her dark brown hair made her look like a movie star from the 40's. She was the living example of a look that was deceiving, the woman lacked personality. Her husband however was short and spoke loudly. It was no surprise for me to hear he was in politics. Which was the main subject of their conversations.

My eyes fell on their son Bill, who was looking very annoyed. My mother was right, he was handsome, but no competition for Eric. I think Eric would be very pleased to hear that.  
I took a deep breath and walked over to my parents. Bill and I were introduced. I almost laughed out loud when he said my name, but I could contain myself. His accent in combination with my name just didn't work. Instead of laughing I grinned like an idiot.  
"We're going to have some tea. Why don't you show Bill around the garden?"  
"I'd love to, what are we waiting for?" Bill answered for me, the tone of his voice went perfectly with his haughty expression.  
Our parents practically pushed us out of the house, oh how they obviously didn't want us to be together. As Bill started talking about himself I planned out the quickest route to Eric.  
Bill was as dull as his parents, but his personality made him even more annoying. It was like he was trying to dazzle me with his many talents. Bill also didn't forget to let me know every once in a while how glad our parents had arranged this, and how we would be a great match. I just smiled politely and let him talk.  
Although my body was with Bill, my head was with Eric. Bill once or twice (or many more times) had to pull me out of my dreams by asking me the same question over and over, everytime with more and more annoyance.  
When we finally reached the little fountain we were the only one there. My heart broke into little pieces, thinking that Eric didn't want to see me. I unhooked my arm from Bill's and sat down on a stone bench. Bill was quick to follow my every move and sat down next to me.

We sat there saying nothing to eachother at all. Bill obviously wanted me to talk, but I wasn't going to please him. I just wanted to be left alone.  
Bill finally gave up and mentioned with some failed interest that my parents had a nice garden, but was soon interrupted as he wanted to continue.

"Why thank you."  
Bill's eyes shoot over to meet the one who had so rudely interrupted him. Eric walked closer in a relaxed pace, which gave me enough time to take in the absence of his shirt. He had a great, toned body. Little drops of sweat were gliding over his chiseled chest, down to his abs and the waist of his jeans, which were hanging very low. His hair was tied back loosely, letting strands of his hair hang in his face. Well, if gardening didn't work out, he could be one hell of a model.  
It took me everything to not jump him right there.  
As my eyes travelled up to his face again, I noticed he was giving me a lopsided grin. I turned red immediately, embarassed for getting caught.

"Excuse me, but we're having a conversation here," Bill sputtered,"we don't want you here."  
If he only knew that I'd much rather have him trade places with Eric. While I expected Eric to just let things rest and not cause a scene he was quick to reply, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  
"It sure looked like one hell of a conversation. Do continue."  
Bill gave me a glance, expecting me to support him. I just shrugged with innocent eyes, pretending not to know what to do. Bill just kept staring at me, waiting for the moment when I would tell Eric off, oblivious to the fact that wouldn't happen.  
When realization finally hit Bill he jumped up and walked over to Eric, stopping in front of him. The difference in height was comical, but Bill kept his arrogant air. Eric just looked down on him, his mouth in a straight line. You could cut the tension with a knife.  
"I am not letting a _gardener_ talk to me like that," Bill sneered.  
"Too bad that you're not the big boss." Eric replied through gritted teeth.  
"You're going to regret this," he turned to me now,"and you're just going to sit there and let this happen?" he pointed a finger too Eric, it was obvious he felt like his pride was hurt.  
Bill's big eyes flashed from me to Eric. I kept sitting on the bench, fumbling with the hem of my sundress. Finally, Bill stormed off. Shouting that my father would hear of this and that he never was treated like this, that it was the biggest insult he ever received. Eric wasn't used to being commanded and wasn't going to let anyone boss him around except for his real boss, that was Eric's strong side, and it was pretty hot.

When the shouting stopped Eric and I stared at eachother, eventually bursting out laughing. Eric sat down next to me, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. It was a small gesture, but it felt like it changed the world to me. I cupped his face with my hands, and placed a soft kiss on his lips.  
"I missed you," I whispered against his lips. Eric gave me a toe-curling kiss, leaving us both breathless. Satisfied I placed my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes and enjoying his presence.  
"I fucking stink Sookie."  
"I don't care. Just let me enjoy this."  
He lay his head on mine, obviously avoiding getting me sweaty, and let his fingers glide over my arms, it made me feel safe and happy. Eric just had that effect on me. Bill could never do that to me, making me feel like everything mattered.

_Shit. Bill._I jumped up, pulling Eric with me.  
"I need to follow Bill. To make sure things.."  
Eric broke of my senctence with a long kiss. He put a lot of emotion in that one kiss, it wasn't needy or rough, but sweet and tender. When Eric broke off the kiss he let his forehead rest against mine, his blue eyes piercing my gaze.  
"We'll get through this."  
It sounded like he wanted to confince himself we would. I wanted to confince myself we would, but things just weren't that easy. Anything could happen. We both had to be prepared for that, but saying it and having to act like it were two different things entirely.  
I pulled on my big girl panties and repeated his statement out loud at first, and then over and over in my head, we had to support eachother.  
Eric went back to work on the garden, and I walked back to the house. I was in big trouble, I could tell that when I saw my mother standing in the dooropening. Suddenly I saw Bill sitting in the hallway, surrounded by my father and his parents. He had a terrified look on his face, and was rocking back and forth slowly, like a baby would. It was comical to see a 19-year old do so.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked nervously, totally ignoring the fact that I was now swearing to my mother.  
"That gardener boy is what is going on. Attacking Bill for nothing, the poor thing."  
My mouth fell open from shock. I kept trying to convince myself this wasn't happening, failing miserably. This was it.

**just to make sure; it's not really thé end. It's just a dramatic Sookie thought.  
I'm going to go back to my hidey-hole now. **


	5. Chapter 5: Vagabond

**A/N: Hey there folks. Here it is; the long awaited EPOV. It's longer than my other chapters, and is from the beginning up to the current situation.  
It was really fun writing from Eric's side, and there will be more EPOV ofcourse. There's some swedish in here as well, but I have no idea if it's correct.  
****I hope you like it. Enjoy:]**

**Chapter 5**

**EPOV**

I was standing at the front door of my new house, feeling nervous. My father and I hadn't seen eachother for a couple of years, since I was living at my grandparents. When he heard about what happened at my school he was furious. He had every right to be, hell, I was angry with myself. I had the chance my father never had, and I blew it.  
I let my fingers slide through my hair, only messing it up more. My father and I had contact over the phone, but not as much as I would've liked. Don't get me wrong, we were close, but we were living seperate lives. That would change now, and I couldn't lie and say that was the worse thing in the world. I was mentally preparing myself for a long, long talk with the old man.

To say that I was trouble was putting it nicely. To be honest I was every teacher's nightmare. The effort that was put into my schoolwork was close to none, and my big mouth often earned me a trip to the principal, who hated my guts. The only reason for the principal to hate me that much that came to mind was that I once punched his son in the face. No regrets over that, the kid almost knocked over my motorcycle. My Zundapp C50 was my baby. I had worked really hard to earn it, and to repair it, since it wasn't in the best of shape when it was sold to me. The fact alone, that it was something that I had accomplished all by myself made it my most precious possession. And yes, I often called it precious or my baby, don't judge.

While most of the boys at my school were scared of me, the girls were following my every move. They sure digged the whole bad boy attitude, which I didn't mind at all. What can I say, I'm a teenager with needs, and the girls at my school were throwing themselves at my feet. Serious relationships weren't my thing, or at least I convinced myself they weren't, and never stayed with one girl for long. Love 'em and leave 'em. My only real friend, Pam, shared my thoughts. We dated, my only 'serious' relationship, but that ended when Pam discovered she liked girls more than guys, which brought us even closer. Pam was known for her bitchy attitude and her parents, who were loaded. Pam always had a designer back hanging on her arm and designer pumps on her feet. When I was kicked out off school she was shocked, but could only watch helplessly. She was next to my grandparents and father the only person who knew the reason I was expelled.

My father arranged with the owner that I could stay with him, but only if I also worked in the garden. In the beginning I wasn't thrilled, but when I set foot on the property I was amazed. It truly was the most beautiful landscape ever, and a nice change from the city that I had left. Soon I realized that I could be content working here, and that it was way better than sitting in a classroom all day long.

I softly pulled on the bell that was hanging next to the small wooden door, letting my duffle bag fall on the floor. The door was opened by my father, who else.

Anyone could see that we were family. If I would show you a picture of my father as a teenager, you would say it was me. He had the same lightblue eyes, and the same thick blonde hair, but only shorter. My father always said that I had his looks, but my mother's personality. He had said that before I was hitting puberty and starting to fuck everything up.

Before I could greet him I was already pulled in for a big hug, that was not what I had expected. We both patted eachother on the back, like men always did and released eachother.

"Mår du bra, pappa?"  
He stepped aside and made the 'come-in' gesture with his hand. My dufflebag was picked up from the ground and hoisted back on my shoulder, setting foot in my new home.  
"Ja då, Jag är ok." My father answered with enthusiasm.

The hallway I entered was very small, and looked like it needed some work done. The print on the wallpaper had started to fade away, and the wooden floors made that typical old wooden floor sound as I followed my father into the small kitchen. It was far from modern, with only a refridgerator and stove. Pots and pans were resting on wooden shelves that matched the cupboards, along with some plates and mugs. There also was a table with 2 chairs, which made clear that my father wasn't used to receiving guests. It surprised me, since I always thought he was quite social butterfly.

"I know it's not much," my father mentioned as he sat down at the table,"but it's comfortable."  
"It looks ok. But seriously, it needs some work done. I'd be happy to do that, as a thank you for letting me stay here."  
Not only did I really wanted to do it for him as a thank you, but also because the interior of my new home was depressing. This was not what I had been expecting when I walked through the massive, fairy-tale like garden.  
The coffee also was a letdown, it was the most disgusting cup of coffee I had ever drank. So instead off enjoying it like I had planned, it was poured down my throat, leaving a nasty taste in my mouth.  
"I know this is not what you're used to Eric, but you have to realize that this is where you'll be living from now on. This is your future, and I'm not going to be as easy-going with you like my parents were. I'm ver  
disappointed in you."  
I couldn't look my father in the eye, ashamed of myself. His voice was stern and it was very clear he meant bussiness.  
"But if you want to clean up this place, that would be great. I don't have that much time, and you'll be working a lot too in a week or two, so if you want to do it now is the time. Now, your bedroom is upstairs, door on the left. I'll let you unpack and settle down. My father stood up, his chair scraping over the floor.  
"I have to finish up in the garden. Just make yourself at home."

With that he left the kitchen, and when I heard the frontdoor shut I finally found the courage to stand up and decided to check out my new bedroom. My father wasn't wrong when he said it was dusty. There was a big bed, that actually was comfortable to my relief and a black IKEA dresser. The room was very light, thanks to the big window, and looked out over a small grass field, surrounded by trees.

I plugged my Ipod speakers into one of the electric sockets and put on the Who, to lighten my mood. It helped, and after unpacking my clothes I felt a lot better and actually began to see my future here.  
As I lay in my bed that evening, staring at the sealing I already made a list in my head with suplies that were needed for fixing this place up.

The next few days went by without any problems. I made progress in fixing the house up, paiting all the walls white, which made it look bigger and brighter. The depressing side was now traded for a fresh modern look. Also the kitchen was given a new look. It actually was funny, that with just a layer of paint, something could look brand new again.  
Each day I would also take a walk, so I could get to know the place. My father said that when he thought I was ready, I could go and help him out. I knew nothing of gardening, but my father had faith in me and hoped that I had inherited his green fingers.

Finally, after a week of doing chores I could go along with my father. It felt great to spend time with him and it didn't feel like working at all.

He taught me all the plantspecies that were in the garden, and there were a lot, and how to take care of them. I made sure to remember them all, and even read books on the subject. I wanted my father to be proud of me again, to make him think that I wasn't a complete failure in life, and that I had a future and was willing to work for it. My father made long hours, and it was taking it's toll on him. Every night at dinner, which I prepared, he would complain about how tired he was and almost immediately went to bed. I never judged him for complaining, but it even made me want to help him out more. With me working, it would cut back his hours, giving him some more free time.

Even though things were going great, and I felt comfortable with my new lifestyle, I couldn't help but feel lonely. Instead of going to school each day –ok, maybe not each day- and seeing all those people, I would get up and spend most of my time alone. Except for the occassional visit from Becky, who was the maid of the household that owned this place. The woman really had a heart of gold, and it didn't take long for me to feel comfortable with her. Becky was someone you could talk easily with, and who didn't judge you because of your past. I never knew why she liked me, even after I told her all the horrible things I had done.

"Some people just need to find their true selves," she had told me.

In the beginning I thought that was a stupid saying, I already knew myself good enough to know who I truely was. But as time passed that changed, because the time spend alone was spend thinking over my actions and mistakes that I had made in the past. Yes, I still snuck out occassionally for a quick cigarette, but other than that I was living the life of a saint.

One of the other things Becky had mentioned is that there also was a girl living here, she was one year younger than me, 17. I couldn't help but think that she would be one of those stuck up rich kids, who always looked down on everyone.

I couldn't be more wrong.

One day, as I was making my daily walk I discovered a lake. What I soon realized was that I wasn't the first person to discover it. In the grass was lying the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her long, blonde hair –which was the same shade as mine- was spread out on the soft green grass. The expression on her face was pure bliss, her eyes closed and her lips softly curled up. It was so unlike me to feel like this, and it scared me a little. Never had a girl been so perfect to me, and I didn't even knew her name for crying out loud.

Slowly I walked over to her, scared that I would wake her up and scare the shit out of her. As I kneeled next to her I realized that if she woke up now I would really look like a psycho, so instead of staring at her, I decided to wake her up.

"Hey. Are you okay?" I tapped her on the arm.

She let out a soft moan, and it was the most perfect moan I had ever heard, and another part of my body agreed. _Shit. _

Finally she opened her eyes, but soon was sitting up straight. Looking confused. Yes, I definetely scared the shit out off her. _Way to go Northman. _

When I repeated my question she nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Can you stand up?" another nod,"Ok then. Let's stand up then."

Without thinking it through I just threw an arm around her waist and pulled her up. The way she looked at me in confusion was simply adorable, and I could see the wheels spinning in her head, trying to make something of this situation.

"Thanks. I'm Sookie. It's okay really, I guess I drifted off."

The way she rambled made me grin like an idiot. The way girls lost their way of words around me never got old, but with Sookie it felt extra special. I could tell she was different from any other girl I've ever met already.

"That's good to know. I didn't really feel like discovering a dead body on my first day of work."

Again with the deer in the headlights look.  
"Pardon?"

I explained to her that I was the gardener's son, and I introduced myself properly. When we shook hands I couldn't help but notice that her hands were so small compared to mine, but our hands fitted perfectly. When I philosophized about the size of our hands, I noticed that she was checking me out. So she was also liking what she saw? I couldn't help but smirk at that fact, because I was scared that she might not be interested in me, at all. Being rich and everything, and me being a plain gardener.

But the fact was, she didn't look happy. After my comment about her being lucky I wanted to smack myself on the head, it obviously was a touchy subject. It was no surprise to me that Sookie wanted to bail right after that.

As I watched her walk away, I began to think that even though it might be weird, that I could just be there for her. Just someone to talk with, and someone for me to talk with.

So I ran after her, and she walked fast as hell, because when I reached her I was actually a little out of breath.

"Do you want to meet up tomorrow? I'd really like to get to know you better Sookie."

Normally, that would be a lie coming from me, but right now I meant it. And I prayed that she would want the same thing, because she already haunted my thoughts.

She smiled, and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy. It was so weird to feel that way, but I liked it. It was a good kind of weird.

"Sure." In my mind I was doing a happy dance.  
"Do you know where the tempel is?" I wanted to scream yes at the top of my lungs, but settled for a nod. She wanted to get to know me better too, and I couldn't wait to spend time with her. She settled for 8 o'clock, which was fine for me, any time she wanted.

"I'll be there. I'm looking forward to it."

With that, we parted. She walking in the direction of her bigass mansion, me walking to the little cottage. I couldn't help but have a shit-eating grin on my face for the rest of the day.

That night I had one dream that gave me the worst case of morning wood I ever experienced. After taking care of that in the shower I went downstairs to eat breakfast. My father kept grinning at me.

"What?" I asked after taking a sip of my coffee, still disgusting.

"Nothing. Just that it's an old house."

_Fuck._

"So you met Sookie?"

_Double fuck. That fucking dream._

I tried to keep my cool, messing up my hair with my hand and try to think of something that wouldn't make this situation more embarassing.

"Yeah. Yesterday we met, she's okay. And not what I had expected, at all."

My father let the subject slide, thank god. And soon left after he finished eating his toast with jam, leaving me alone in the house again. To keep myself busy I started to clean up the house, something that I would've never done while living with my grandparents. They always did everything, giving me all the time in the world to do stupid things. When the house was squeeky-clean and smelling of lemon, I went out for a cigarette. A bad habit, I know, but I never had a good reason to quit and to be honest, I didn't want to.

Just like every evening, I started making dinner. My father had taught me how to cook, and I picked it up fast than expected. The cookbooks he had given me were also a good help, and soon I was a kitchen prince.

During dinner my thoughts were focused on Sookie, her smile, her voice and her beautiful face. I really couldn't wait to see her again.

My father went to bed as I washed the dishes and used pans, our little evening routine. After browsing on my laptop for an hour I really couldn't take it anymore, and went to the temple were we had planned to meet. When I reached the lovely little building I sat down on the steps, and enjoyed the lovely evening air.

I noticed a movement from the corner of my eye. When I looked in the direction I noticed Sookie walking towards me. I jumped up and walked in her direction.

"Hey."

"Hey." She greeted back, sounding surprise. Did she think I would let her down or something? Did I look that untrustworthy?

"How was your day Sookie?" I wanted to know, just like I wanted to know everything about her. She just started talking after that and I listened. We had a great conversation, just telling eachother about the things we liked, and didn't like. It made me like Sookie even more. Other girls had nothing on Sookie, Sookie wasn't trying to impress me or faked interest in my stories. To top it all off, she could make me laugh.

"We really should get going. Your parents might get worried." Ugh, sometimes doing the right thing was such a pain in the ass. I didn't even try to hide my disappointment.

"Yeah." Her voice had the same tone as mine.

"Aw you miss me already?"  
This remark earned me a little slap on the arm, and a snarky comeback.

"Don't get your hopes up mister."

I chuckled softly and pulled her to her feet, not letting go of her hand. She didn't pull away to my surprise, and this gave me the oppertunity to soak up her presence. I wanted to remember every little detail of her face, eyes and body.  
Our little moment was broken by a bird, a fucking bird. Sookie's little jump made me snicker, it was adorable.  
"Someone here doesn't like birds."

Her hands flew on her hips, showing me a 'don't-fuck-with-me' Sookie who wasn't going to back down from anyone. It was hot, but I don't think she was going for that.

After I dropped Sookie off at her home my mind was a mess. I never dealt with feelings like this, and the whole situation wasn't making things easier. Her parents obviously wouldn't approve, that was obvious in the way her nerves built up when we were nearing her house.  
We had agreed on seeing eachother the next day, and the day after that.

My dreams were filled with Sookie, and some very graphic fantasies, which made the conversations with my dad more and more awkward each morning, appareantly I was a person that 'talked' in his sleep. Waking up with wood became a normal morning routine, which was annoying as fuck. Let's say long showers in the morning were quickly planned into my schedule.

Each day that Sookie and I saw eachother she became more perfect. Her taste in music was a pleasant surprise. We basicly liked the same stuff, like the Kinks and the Who, but also some newer bands like Foals and Deerhunter, and we often listened to eachothers Ipods. When she discovered I had a Celine Dion song on my Ipod I wanted to fall in a big black hole, I was so embarassed. Sookie never believed me when I said that I had no idea how it got on there, she finally had something she could tease me with over and over.

Two weeks. Two whole weeks had passed and I still couldn't bring up the courage to do more than hold her hand. Sookie was different than all the other girls, and I didn't want to ruin what we had. What if she just wanted to stay friends? Every time after we would part I would analyze the situation. Did she hug me longer than yesterday? Is she making eye-contact? She didn't wish me a goodnight, does she hate me? My own thoughts were driving me crazy, and it had to stop.

I decided to take a leap of faith and just go for it.

"Let your window open tonight." I said, and kissed her softly on her temple. Her reaction was all the encouragement I needed, Sookie would be mine this night, and I would be her's.

"See you tonight. Don't forget." I knew she wouldn't.

When I got home I noticed Becky was there also. She greeted me in her typical friendly way, and asked me how Sookie was. I responded with a 'she's great' and sat down at the kitchen table. We had bought an extra chair, since Becky came over more and more. It was nice.

I poured myself some coffee, since sleep wasn't going to be on my planning tonight. My father soon went to bed, which gave me the perfect opportunity to get everything of my chest.

"Does Sookie has something important tomorrow?"

Becky placed her hand over mine, beaming her smile at me.

"Why do you ask? Big plans?" her fake surprisement made me breath out a soft chuckle.

"Yeah. I wanted to do something special for Sookie tonight."

Becky was very pleased to hear that, and wished me the best of luck. She finished her cup of tea and went back to the mansion to go to bed herself.

Waiting sucks, especially if you don't have any patience at all. Like me. Finally, after pacing back and forth driving myself crazy, I went to fetch Sookie.

Sookie obviously noticed my arrival, gravel wasn't that stealth.

"What the hell. Why are you wearing flipflops?"

Her flustered expression and the confused tone in her voice were placing a smirk on my face right away. The ice had been broken, and I didn't even have to come up with a stupid opening phrase, which was harder than I thought it would be.

"Hello to you too," I wiggled my foot,"I just felt like dressing up. Now get down here."

"You want me to climb down?"

Her reaction caused me to chuckle, she was so innocent and sweet, and had obviously never done anything like this.

"Ofcourse not lover. Just sneak out. I don't want you breaking any bones. I'll wait for you at the front door." I said as smoothly as possible.

Her head dissapeared inside, and I walked to the front door, leaning casually against a statue. I went over my plan one last time in my head, making sure everything went perfect, because that's what she deserved.

When she set foot outside my heart skipped a beat. She looked lovely, and I kept thinking that I was dreaming, because no one could be that perfect. She brought a smile on my face, and I just had to touch her, so I grabbed her hands. I needed to tell her what she meant to me, and how she affected me, how not being with her was torture.

"You.."

_For fucks sake just say it. Stop being such a coward._

"You look beautiful.. this night. Always actually."

Now it was out in the open, no chance of taking it back now. I was nervous when I wanted to tell her, but waiting for her reaction was even worse. Her silence wasn't helping my case. I felt a soft squeeze in my hand. What? Nothing else?

"Just tell me that you like me too so I don't have to feel like an idiot right now, Sookie."

"I like you Eric, I like you a lot."

After that I couldn't help but have the biggest shit-eating grin on my face. Sookie also looked very happy, grinning at me in her adorable little way. I wanted to do a happy-dance, but that would have to wait 'till I got home again.

Now it was time for my surprise. With enthusiasm I pulled her with me, our fingers laced, our hands never letting the other go.

For the entire walk Sookie kept quiet, she only broke the silence once to ask where we were heading. With a smug feeling I led her around a corner, onto a little grasfield.

Based on her reaction I figured I did well, the little gasp she let out made me feel so relieved.

"You like?"

"It's amazing."

That was all the confirmation I needed, this was the perfect moment. I spun her around so we were facing eachother, and I pulled her close to me.

"Everything for you." I whispered in her ear.

Our eyes met, her blue gaze was filled with lust. I couldn't take it anymore. My lips softly touched hers. Sookie obviously wanted the same thing, because soon we were kissing like only two teenagers could. Her hands were in my hair, my hands were pressing her body to mine. When we broke of our kiss we were both breathing heavy, flustered and exchanging dark looks filled with passion.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere Sookie started giggling. It took me a while to figure out why, but when I did so, I rolled my eyes dramaticly.

"If you're going to laugh at me, I might as well go home."

"Oh no you won't."

And her lips found mine again, our tongues crashing and our bodies colliding. Sookie wasn't all innonence and sweetness, she could be a real minx if she wanted to. Her kisses were supporting my theory. I've never been kissed like this, and it made me wonder where Sookie has been my whole life. It was passionate and needy, but there were feelings that made her kisses so much better. It soon was time for us to go to our beds, since I had to get up early the next morning. Sookie was just as excited as I was. Seeing how sad she was about us leaving again broke my heart, if it were up to me we wouldn't be apart, ever. It wasn't however, there was the real world that just had to fuck everything up. I lifted her chin, making her eyes connect with mine.

"Don't be sad. This is not the end."

We walked to her mansion, kissing at the front door untill I really had to go. Sookie was worth it, and I hoped I made that clear enough for her. The smiles she gave me when we walked back, made me want to give her the world. I had it bad, but it didn't scare me, not anymore. I was ready for anything.

As silent as possible I sneaked into the house, avoiding the part on the floor that were extra loud. My bed never looked so inviting, and I let myself fall into it, not bothering with undressing. Soon I was dreaming about Sookie, the girl of my dreams, once again.

Waking up in the morning, with a huge grin on your face is probably the best way to wake up ever. Knowing that Sookie felt the same way let a whole weight of worries slide of my shoulders. I tucked my hands behind my head and observated the ceiling, lost in thoughts. There were so many things that I wanted to do with Sookie –not only _those_ things- but things like her and I doing a roadtrip on my motorcycle, or cooking her dinner. Little things, just to spend more time together. And for those other things, I would give her all the time she needed to feel ready. I could wait for Sookie.

One glance at my alarmclock left me with 1 hour to get ready to start work. My father would probably already be out, since I didn't hear any noises coming from downstairs.

I jumped in the shower and washed my hair, threw on a grey t-shirt and some old jeans and went downstairs.

My father's plate was still on the table, so I cleaned that up first. After I finished my breakfast there was still some time to kill, so I logged in on my laptop and checked my e-mail. Pam and I still had contact, and that was good. She kept me up-to-date with the situations at my old school, and told me everything about her conquests. To say she was surprised that I actually was with someone was an understatement. But as usual she regained her composure and started making snarky comments and calling me a 'love-sick-puppy', which iritated me to no end. Good thing that I was used to it.

Suddenly my phone buzzed on my nighttable, it was Sookie. My e-mail to Pam was put on hold immediately.

"Yes lover?"

"Hey Eric. There's something I need to tell you, but don't freak out okay?"

"What? What's wrong?"

Different scenarios crossed my mind, one worse than the other. I heard her taking a deep breath on the other line, and start to talk. Appareantly, her parents were setting her up. And she said yes, even though she didn't want to. Yes, my inner caveman found it's way out and I wanted to punch that motherfucker named Bill in the face for being matched with my Sookie.

"Eric? Are you still there."

That Bill will regret this. I don't even know the guy but I hate him already. And Sookie's fucking parents.

"Eric?"  
I was too busy being mad at everything that I forgot about Sookie, who must really be worried. I replied with a simple 'yes' that came out much harsher than I had planned. It's just that when my anger comes up, my brain stops functioning, and that's when things get out of hand. I tried to stay calm, I really did, but self-control wasn't my forte.

"Are you going to tell him to fuck off? That you're not interested?"

"You know I can't do that. My parents.."  
"Fuck that," my jaw tightened, I was close to losing it. The next thing I know, I was telling her how stupid it was to just go along with her parents ideas. To not have an open relationship with me, that's fine, I understood that. But just letting your parents control your personal life like that, and not even stand up to that, I couldn't. She owed it to me to stand up to that, and yet she didn't.  
"Look Eric. It's not going to change anything between us."

I heard a loud sob coming from the other line. Sookie was now crying, and it was because of me. I felt horrible, and all the anger just disappeared in a heartbeat. Crying people also were my weakness, because I had no idea how to handle it. Always when a girl started crying, I left. But this was different, because this was Sookie.

"Sookie. Don't cry. Please don't cry. It's okay. I overreacted. I know that I can trust you."

She cried even harder. No way this was working over the phone, so I told her to meet me at the temple, because this wasn't working. When we met at the temple I gave her all the attention she needed, holding her, kissing her. Maybe I wasn't good in comforting with words, but in this case actions spoke louder than words and we were soon back to normal, avoiding the Bill-subject.

As the day that Sookie and I weren't looking forward too arrived, I felt nervous. It was odd, because the last person who had to be nervous was me. The only thing that mattered most to me was Sookie, and that she should never be pushed into doing things she didn't want to. I told her that over and over, and she promised that after this was over she wouldn't let her parents walk all over her. I was glad to hear that, and it made me feel a lot better about our situation.

Sookie called me, before it was time to have her 'date'.

"This is going to suck so hard." I could almost hear her pout, it made me snicker. She was so excited abot this, not.

"It's allright lover.." I told her I would be working at the little fountain, so she could see me if she wanted to. Also, because I wanted to keep an eye on the bastard that was getting alone time with my girl, but that reason was kept to myself. Sookie wasn't keen on caveman Eric.

She agreed on seeing me. Score.

_Now let's make sure that she will be thinking about me for the rest of the day._

"You should know that I'm quite a sight when working," I purred,"it's also pretty warm today. So I guess I won't be needing a shirt."

Her reaction, or the lack of it, made me assume I did well and chuckled at the succes of my evil plan. She was always easy to tease, and looked adorable when offended.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Is that your way of distracting me? Talking nasty?" If I could only distract you in other ways.

"Maybe, is it working?"

After a short silence Sookie made her comeback.

"Stop being so pleased with yourself." It was like she could sense my smugness. Her reaction made me roar with laughter, and soon Sookie was laughing along. It was nice to hear her laugh, it was my favorite sound, next to the moans that escaped her mouth during wild makeout sessions. We should have one again soon.

After hanging up, I went outside to start working. It didn't take long for me to get really hot and sweaty, so my shirt was soon lying on a bench next to a bottle of water.  
I heard voices from the other side of the hedge. Well, one voice, a male one. I presumed that that would be Bill's voice, and from to sound of it he was a bit dull. If he was with Sookie, he wasn't doing a good job. Good.

"Your parents have a nice garden."

"Why thank you," I interrupted. He obviously wanted to ramble on, but I couldn't stand having to hear him one more time. Sookie must be bored to death.

Not in this moment however, right now she was totally checking me out. Her eyes were roaming my body like it was the nicest thing she had ever seen. Her gaze met mine, and she blushed when she saw my lopsided grin. It made her look beautiful, I wanted to make her blush all the time. The nice shade of red travelling from her chest to her neck and face. Boring Bill pulled me from my fantasy.

"Excuse me, but we're having a conversation here. We don't want you here."  
Oh for fucks sake. He was obviously oblivious to signs that indicated boredom.  
"It sure looked like on hell of a conversation. Do continue."  
He glanced over to Sookie, expecting her to stand up to me. She didn't. It made me want to spin her around in the air, for not letting people tell her what to do.  
Bill gave up and walked over to me, trying to intimidate me. Good luck with that. I just kept staring at him.  
"I am not letting a _garderner _talk to me like that," the guy sputtered.  
"Too bad that you're not the big boss." He was really getting on my nerves, the tone in my voice and the fact that I was practically hissing were making that evident.  
"You're going to regret this," he threatened like it was his last resort, and then turned to Sookie.  
"And you're just going to sit there and let this happen?" Waving his finger in my direction. It took all my control to not punch him in the face, letting Sookie feel bad for not being stuck-up and arrogant. Luckily, he stormed off when he realized Sookie wasn't on his team. He threatened some more, but it was all just big talk. Big hat, no cattle.

After Bill's shouting dramaticly faded in the background we both bursted out laughing. In the end, the whole scene was just hilarious. My anger slid away and I sat down next to my angel, tucking a strand of her beautiful blonde hair behind her ear.

She cradled my face with her hands, placing a soft kiss on my lips, whispering that she missed me. In return I gave her a kiss she would not forget for the next couple of hours, making sure that she knew how much I had longed for her.  
She laid her head on my shoulder, and closed her eyes.  
"I fucking stink Sookie." I gestured to my shirtless torso, which was covered in a layer of sweat. How she could cuddle with me was beyond me.

"I don't care. Just let me enjoy this."

So I shut up, letting my head rest on hers, my fingers gliding over her warm skin, which had a nice tan. Sookie loved soaking up the sun, in her bikini. Watching her sunbathe was heaven, but also hell since I could look but didn't dare touch.  
From out of the blue Sookie jumped up.  
"I need to follow Bill. To make sure things.." and that's when I kissed her again. Sweet and soft, giving support through a kiss. Our foreheads touched afterwards, our eyes locked.

"We'll get through this."

Sookie repeated after me, her blue eyes soft. I wanted to get through this, I was at a point where my life would be miserable if Sookie wasn't there.  
I watched her walk away, her cute sundress swaying with her every step. A voice in my head telling me that I should have handled the situation with Bill differently. Fuck that, I thought. Only my boss can tell me what to do. And Sookie.

Sookie in the end had the most power over me, because I loved her. Yes. I did love her, unconditionally.

**A/N: d'awwww. As for the swedish "are you okay, dad?" and "Yes, I'm fine"  
By the way, you should all really check out Deerhunter, especially the song Coronado. It's a nice summery song.  
Hope you liked it, and see you at the next update. :] **


	6. Chapter 6: Weekend

**AN: Hey people, here's another chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it:]**

**Chapter 6**

"_What the hell is going on?" I asked nervously.  
_"_That gardener boy is what is going on. Attacking Bill for nothing, the poor thing."  
__My mouth fell open from shock. I kept trying to convince myself this wasn't happening, failing miserably. This was it._

I had no words for what I was feeling in that moment. My blood was boiling, my heart beating like a jungle drum. In that moment there was nothing that I would have liked more than to slap Bill across the face. Before I got to him my mother was already talking again.

"Corbett, make sure that boy doesn't set a foot on this property again."

My father walked over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. Trying to calm her down.

"Don't let this ruin our trip. We can take care of this later." He said in a cool voice. Seriously, what was going on here. I felt like I was starring in a lame sitcom, but without the laughter of public after every line.

"No. He's lying, I was there," I pointed a finger at Bill, noticing my hands were shaking.

"He's _lying_. Eric didn't do anything. Eric didn't touch him at all."

My father raised an eyebrow, as did my mom, when they heard my admission. They weren't going to fire Eric, not on my watch. Bill's parents were now joining the discussion, making it suddenly feel very crowded in the hall. It was one big commotion, wherever you would look there would be something going on. My parents were eyeing Bill with suspicion, his father with his hands placed on the hip, his mother looking shocked. Yes, your son isn't so perfect after all.

"Is that true?" Bill looked at me with a look that could kill, I shot him a ice cold one back. He tried to speak, and tried to get out of it. But his stuttering and a face as white as a sheet weren't proving his point. After a loud discussion, in which Bill was burned down to to ground, followed. Somehow I enjoyed watching his downfall, the guy didn't deserve any better, not after blaming Eric for something he didn't do. What a swine.  
His parents hoised him up and pulled him outside like a toddler, they were both looking very angry and disappointed. The adults exchanged quick goodbyes, and then they took off.

"That was tiring. I'm off to take a nap." My mother said after an awkward silence, and left. Appareantly she had nothing more to say on the subject. Now it was just me and my father.

"What trip?" I asked sounding exasperated.

"Your mother and I are taking a short break. We're leaving for Milan tommorow morning early. Everything is taken care off, so you don't have to worry about that. There is some money on your dresser. You will have to eat alone tonight, since your mother and I are very tired, and will be going to bed soon. We'll be gone for a week, if there's anything you want you can call me, but I don't think that would be neccessary."

I stood there dumbfounded, my mouth catching flies as my father walked away, not even awaiting my reaction.

You might think I was offended for not being informed earlier, but that wasn't the case. A whole week. Seven days I would have all the house to myself. No rules, no control, no parents who might find out about me and Eric. I wanted to dance around and sing with my horrible voice. I could invite Amelia over for a sleepover, and Sam. The possibilities were endless and I was already making a bucket load of plans in my head.

I walked outside again, enjoying the warm sun on my skin and took place on the steps in front of my house. My cellphone was soon in my hands, and I made a phonecall to number one on my speeddial, Eric.

He didn't pick up the phone, he probably had left it home when he went into the garden. I left him a message that said he wasn't in trouble, and told him to call me back as soon as possible. After that, I called up Amelia. She did pick up.

"Hey Sook." She greeted with her bubbly voice.

"Hi Meels."

When she heard about me being home alone she squeeled so hard that I had to keep some distance between the phone and my ear. It was that loud. Soon she regained her normal volume, and we started planning her sleepover. Sam would be joining us too, which made me all the more excited. We hadn't seen eachother in ages, and I missed him.

"How's the garden boy? Will he be there too?" she cooed.

"He's fine, and probably." Again with the squeeling.

The next half hour she interrogated me about Eric. It was nice to hear she was actually happy for me, and couldn't wait to get to meet him, but then again, I also had to endure the awkward questions. We said our goodbyes and hung up. Eric wouldn't know what hit him after meeting Amelia.

Eric still hadn't answered my message, even though he probably was finished with work right now. Maybe he was too nervous, or scared. When I went over the whole situation in my head, my phone started buzzing and playing off Eric's ringtone. Hastily I grabbed it and pushed the 'answer' button.

"What's up?" He sounded reserved, even aggitated.

"Nothing."

"Why am I _not _in trouble. What happened?"

I wanted to slap myself on the forehead, in all the excitement the thought of telling Eric why he wasn't in trouble slipped my mind. Eric was updated about the events that took place this afternoon, again not saying anything.

"Motherfucker." Yup, Eric was definitely not happy.

"Yes, he's a pig. But that's all okay now, water under the bridge." I said, trying to keep the conversation positive, or at least as positive as possible.

"Sookie, he could've had me fired. Or my dad. Fuck. I'm glad you stood up for me, I owe you."

"Well in that case, you can pay me back in coming over tommorow? My parents will be gone for a whole week. We can do whatever we want!"

Eric laughed at my enthusiasm, but I could tell he was very excited himself and wasn't worried about Bill anymore. Or at least, wasn't showing it.

"So, there will be noone," his voice was now husky and low. It made me squirm, he was way too sexy when he talked like that. Too bad I had to disappoint him, just a little.

"Well, Becky will still be here. But I'm sure she won't mind you sleeping over. Her room is on the other side of the house, anyway."

A soft chuckle came from the other line.

"That's good to know, lover."

We talked some more, and when Becky called me for dinner we hung up. I wasn't going to tell her that Eric was going to sleep over right now. I was too nervous for that. It's a big thing, having your boyfriend sleeping over and well, do stuff with him. There was no doubt in my mind that I was ready for it, but what if Eric didn't like it. I wasn't so naïve to think he hadn't slept with a girl, and not just one, but that meant he had people to compare me too. I had nothing, just a sloppy kiss with Quinn, and Eric had already exceeded that by a long shot.

With a lot off effort, I pushed the drama in my head away, and told myself to just go with the flow, and not make such a big fuss over everything. No over-analyzing, just wait and see. Eric would understand if I told him, I hope.

Becky had made my favorite meal, it was almost like she thought I had something to celebrate. I thanked her politely when she put down the fried chicken in front of me, with the baked potatoes and some vegetables. I dug in and gobbled the whole plate down within minutes. It was delicious, and I thanked her again when I put my plate in the sink.

She just kept giving me knowing looks, and it made me think of her as a superspy, since she somehow always knew what I was up to.

"What are your plans for tommorow Sookie?" she asked casually.

"Uhm, Eric's coming over."

"Should I make the bed in the guestroom?" She winked and from that moment I just couldn't look her in the eye, turning as red as a tomato.

"I thought so." She said amused, answering her own question. I mumbled an incoherent thank you for the last time and tried not to run out off the kitchen. Well, that was embarrassing.

That night, in my bed, I thought about how much had changed in the course of 2 months. My life went from utterly miserable to amazing. I had never thought this would happen to me, and still couldn't believe my luck. It was unreal, and felt like it was one big dream. Even though I could have anything my heart desired, there was never love. Eric gave that to me, love. Or was that just a crazy thought, that he gave me _love. _He gave me company, and affection, but did he also gave me love. Like in, loving me. Did I even love him? I was getting there, if I already wasn't.

_And now I'm just freaking myself out. Relax Sookie._ I thought to myself. Luckily, even though my mind was in overdrive, I fell into a deep slumber.

My eyes fluttered open, sunlight blinding my sight. As I looked on my alarmclock I noticed that I had slept longer than normal, and my body felt completely rested. With a content smile I stretched out and snuggled into my pillows, today would be a good day. Becky wandered into my room a while later, carrying a tray with pancakes and a cup of coffee. The smell alone was enough to make me sit up straight and feel completely awake. It all tasted even better, and was hands down the best breakfast I had in a while. Becky was very pleased to hear that, since she had done her best. I didn't feel the need to inform to my parents, they would be fine. Just like I would be.

"You're allowed to enjoy this week, so I thought that this would be a good way to start." Becky said, straightening my covers a little, so they covered my feet. I was a bit of a kicker in my sleep sometimes.

"Thank you so much. This is definitely a good start."

We smiled at eachother.

"So when is Eric coming over?"

"He will be here in an hour or something. I'll put this in the sink downstairs and then have a shower. Do you need any help with anything?" I said inbetween sips of coffee.

"Sookie, just have a shower, let me handle all this. Just take it easy." And before I could put up a fight, Becky already grabbed the tray and walked out of my room.

I hopped into my rainforest shower, the best asset of the bathroom, and enjoyed the warm water that was running over my body. When everything was clean and scrubbed, I stepped out of the shower, wrapping my body in a towel. A quick trip to my closet and the normal getting-ready-in-the-morning-routine later, I was finished with getting ready. It was a warm day, so I had put on cut-off jeanshorts and a bandshirt from my favorite band, the Beatles.

With a fresh face I made my way downstairs, and was greeted by Eric, who was sitting on a chair in the hall, looking somewhat flustered. When he realized I was walking towards him, he jumped up. It took him 3 big steps to reach me, and brushed a kiss on my lips. My arms automaticly went and wrapped themselves around his neck, as his hands were gliding down my spine, leaving a trace of burning flesh behind. We managed to get our bodies even closer to eachother, and deepened our kiss. Who would've thought, kissing the gardener in my own house, in the middle of the hall.

A cough interupted our not-so-suited-for-minors greeting. Eric grinned as I stiffened completely. We loosened our grips, parting from eachother, what was always a hard thing to do. With Eric I had always felt the need to touch him, and it seemed like all he wanted to do was touch me back and make me shiver.

Becky stood there at the bottom of the stairs, with a look that could only be described as 'even though I'm happy for you, I don't need to see you suck face'. She and Eric exchanged pleasantries, Eric as always being very cocky and assured of himself, not caring about the fact we were all over eachother just seconds ago. While Becky just shook her head with a smile and turned around to walk away.

I burried my face in Eric's chest, embarrassed and uncomfortable, and groaned. Eric's chest was now rumbling. I gave him a little slap on the arm, which I had to do way too often. The guy had no shame, no shame at all.

"That's not funny. Oh my god, I'm so uncomfortable now." I said, now hiding my face in my hands. The hands of Eric soon pulled them away, entwining his fingers with mine, and placed a soft kiss on my knuckles.

"It's a good thing her room isn't close to yours then." Now having the biggest smirk on his face. I would've been offended if I hadn't been completely mesmerized, the things this guy did to me. It was just unbelievable. One of his smiles, and my body would turn into jelly. To make things worse, he leaned in to kiss me again.

"Because there is no way I'm going to keep you quiet tonight." He whispered against my lips. I let out a shuddered breath. Eric was a smooth talker, that I knew, but he still got me every time. The innuendo, accompanied with his trademark-smirk, were killing me. I was proud of myself that I didn't drag him into my room right away.

The day passed peacefully. I showed him the house, his jaw dropping every ten seconds after entering a different room. After the grand tour we just cuddled on the couch and talked about little things and even watched a movie. It was weird how comfortable we both were in this moment, after all, this was a place he was forbidden to enter. I wanted him to know, that if it were up to me he would be welcome any time, and that he could stay here for the week. He gladly accepted without hesitation, but did mention that he would have to pick up some clothes and inform his father about our sleepovers. Great, another adult up-to-date with our relationship. The fact that it was Eric's father even made me more nervous, even though Eric kept assuring me he would love me.  
I asked Eric about his grandparents, and about his school. As soon as the question was in the air, I felt his arm stiffen around me. I knew he was kicked out off school, but never asked why. The way he reacted was a clear indication that if I did ask, the whole day would be ruined. So I didn't. He would tell me eventually.

This was our moment, and I wasn't going to let anyone ruin it. Not even me. So I just changed the subject and we chattered on. His fingers always gliding over my arm, in a soothing way. It felt so safe being with him, like nothing could happen and nothing mattered, just us.

That evening he made me dinner. Eric didn't let me help him out, and to be quite frank, it didn't seem like he needed any. The way he moved in the kitchen and threw in all the ingredients showed that he knew what he was doing. I liked that. He was completely in his element, just like when he was working in the garden, and my eyes followed his every move. His emotions always showed in his face, in his eyes and smile. When he was truly happy, his eyes smiled together with his eyes. This was one of those moments, and it made me smile with him.  
Just like I had expected the whole feast he had prepared was amazing. I couldn't help but moan with every bite I took in my mouth. As I looked up to thank him for cooking for me, he was staring at me with hooded eyes. Completely still, his fork hanging in mid-air.

He stood up from the barstool, since we ate in the kitchen, grabbed my face and laid one hell of a kiss on me. It didn't take me long to react. With the same eagerness I pulled him to me, and kissed him back with the same passion. These kisses were different from every kiss we had shared, these were kisses of lust and passion.

I broke off our kiss, grabbed his hand and pulled him with me towards my room. Hoping that Becky would understand the mess we left behind.  
Eric just let me lead the way, which was an exception. He mostly was the one to initiate stuff, but was now quiet, it felt nice that he gave me a little power. When we reached the door of my bedroom I turned around, immidiatly meeting his stare.  
"Are you sure?" he whispered.

"I want this," I whispered back,"I want you."

That was all the confirmation he needed, and I was thankful that he didn't ask any further. Yes, my nerves were definitely there, but there was no doubt in my mind.

As soon as my door was open, Eric had lifted me up and softly lay me down on my bed. He crawled on the bed next to me, pulling me against him. As we kissed our hands roamed over eachothers body, eager to explore every inch of skin.

It didn't take long before both our shirts were thrown on the ground. His mouth placed rough kisses on my jaw, slowly moving down to my neck and further down to my breasts. With a quick flick of his wrist he took care of my white lace bra, that awaited the same fate as our shirts, now lying lonely on the floor.

My fingers grope into his long blond hair when his mouth travelled further south down my body, making me giggle when he reached my bellybutton. Soon my shorts ended on the floor, together with his jeans. He captured my mouth with his. We were both very aware of the fact that the only thing that stood between us was just one layer of clothing. A load groan escaped his troath when I grounded my hips against his. I could feel how excited he was, and he was _very _excited by the feel of things. His fingers glided over my shoulders, grazing the side of my breasts and over my side, stopping at the lace of my underwear. We looked at eachother. My mind couldn't help but think that Eric was beautiful like this, his hair ruffled and his lips red and swollen from kissing roughly, but his skin still the same glow as always. We kept eyecontact as his fingers went under my underwear, and slid it of my hips. I followed his actions, and we were both completely undressed now. Eric's fingers now travelled from my ankle up to my hips, only to end up between my legs. I let out a whimper as he slid them inside me. It didn't took long before he found the perfect spot, and continued his movements. My hips bucked into his hand unwillingly. My brain wasn't in control of my body anymore. Suddenly, Eric hit a whole new spot, making me moan out loud as I came within a few of his strokes. My first orgasm, and it was amazing.

Eric was not planning to stop just yet, and I agreed with him completely. Our lips crashed again, with even more passion now.

"God Sookie, I want you so bad." He breathed between kisses. I just nodded, unable to speak.

"Wait. Don't go anywhere."

He jump off the bed, and started looking around for his pants. Even if I did want to go anywhere, I was in no state to walk. I pointed him in the right direction, since he was looking at the wrong side of the room. He pulled a condom from his backpocket and jumped back on top of me.

"You felt lucky?" I asked with a cheecky tone in my voice.

"Yes," he ripped open the foil,"and it turns out I am," gave me a kiss when he was all protected,"very lucky."

He slid into me, very slowly, letting me adjust to his size. It did hurt, although not as much as I'd imagined, and it didn't take me long to enjoy it. Slowly, we began moving against eachother, clumsy at first, but it didn't take long to find an amazing rythm.

I closed my eyes as I felt another wave of pleasure come over me.

"Don't close your eyes. I wan't to look at you when you come for me."

It was like that sentence brought me over the edge. Or it might have been the slight change in position he was taking me in.

When the wave hit me, Eric's name escaped my lips in a loud moan. My name escaped Eric's, in a grunt instead of a moan, and he rolled of me.

We just lay there, next to eachother, panting and sweating. Not saying anything, since it would take me some time to form a normal sentence.  
Eric was the first one to move, and threw the condom in the trashcan next to my bureau, grabbing the blanket from the floor on his way back. Somehow it had also landed on the floor during our 'struggle'.

After covering me up, he crawled behind me, pulling me close to him in his strong arms. I felt his soft lips place a kiss on my shoulder.

"Sookie?"

I mumbled my reply, since I was suddenly feeling very sleepy. He wore me out completely.

"I could fall asleep like this forever." He whispered in a warm voice. I smiled.

"That makes two of us."

He chuckled softly, placing kisses on my neck, and pulling me even closer. Our bodies fit together perfectly, which I wouldn't have thought. He was tall, and I was very tiny. It was like we were a puzzle, and were now complete. My eyes closed, and I fell asleep in a recordtime, enjoying the body and person I was lying against.

Yes, he had officially ruined sleeping alone now.


	7. Chapter 7: Two Weeks

**AN: Another chapter! It took me some time to write, since school is busting my ass right now.  
To make up for the wait it's a chapter from everybody's favorite viking point of view:]  
Thanks for the reviews and alerts, did not expect that, but it's nice to know you all like it.  
I'll stop rambling now. Enjoy!**

**EPOV**

To wake up next to Sookie was the best feeling ever. It surprised me, since I never enjoyed waking up to someone else before. Most of the time, I would just sneak out of the room I ended up in, silently grabbing my clothes and do my walk of shame. This was different, and it felt good. Her tiny frame was still cuddled up to my body, my arms still wrapped around her small waist. From the way she was breathing, she was still sleeping.

Not wanting to wake her I softly pulled my arms from around her body, causing her to stir. With a lazy smile she turned over to face me, her eyes drowzy. Her angelic expression, paired with her bed –and sex- hair made her look beautiful.

"Mornin'" she whispered.

"Goodmorning." I replied with a huge grin. I couldn't help it, she made me feel like an 11-year old girl with a huge crush. Thank god I didn't giggle, that would be the downfall of Eric Northman. Who never giggled, ever.

I popped up on my elbow, hovering over her. We were still very naked, and even though I felt like an 11 year old girl, some parts of me were not. I just hoped Sookie wouldn't notice, I didn't want to make her feel embarrassed or awkward. To my surprise she made it clear she wasn't. After a round of –very, very good and satisfying- morning sex we were sprayed out on the bed again. Would it be possible to just spend the whole day in this bed, or did Sookie had plans? Before I could ask, there was a knock at the door. Sookie immediatly jumped up and covered us up with the white sheet. Just in time, since Becky walked in just seconds after. A blush spred over Sookie's face with great speed, while I just smirked. Nudity didn't bother me that much, and no, I had almost no shame at all. Becky noticed the state of the room, and then us.

"Goodmorning. Sookie." She then turned to me. "Eric."

"Mornin' Becks."

Sookie said nothing, and hid herself under the heap of pillows on her bed, letting out a loud groan. It was funny. She could be a total minx, but also so sweet and innocent. I wondered if Becky heard us this morning, I prayed for Sookie's sake she didn't. Even though it would be embarrassing, I felt pretty proud for being responsible for Sookie's loud noises. At least she enjoyed it, I knew I did.

"Breakfast will be ready in a half hour. I'll let you two kids alone now." And with that Becky left the room. As the door closed I felt a pillow hit the side of my face. Sookie was now glaring at me, she didn't look happy, but also not extremely mad.

"You're so annoying." She said with an adorable pout on her face, I couldn't help but laugh. That earned me another pillow in the face.

"What?"

"You're just so.." she struggled with coming up for a good word to describe my behaviour. I figured I could help her along.

"Perfect?" I pulled her back in my arms,"amazing? Pretty? Good in bed?" I continued as my lips roamed her neck. She giggled softly.

"Maybe. But you're also annoying." It would've been insulting, if it wasn't accompanied with a smile.

"Why?" I replied with a dramatic gasp. We were now both laughing again.

"_You _don't have to see her every day. _I _do." The you and I accompanied with a finger pointing out the person in question.

"So what? It's not like she walked in during. Look, it's not a big deal. She's not so naïve to think that we were having a tea party last night. We had sex, amazing sex. It's nothing to be ashamed of, ok?"

My little speech was all it took for Sookie to calm down. She didn't respond, but just let the subject slide, and we cuddled. It felt nice. It made me think about all the girls I was with, but how I never wanted to cuddle with any of them. It just didn't appeal to me. But with Sookie it just came natural.

We hopped into the shower. Sookie laughed at my reaction upon seeing her bathroom for the first time. It was huge and very luxurious, but what would you expect, living in a house like this everything was expensive. Her rainforest shower was a nice change from my tacky normal shower, in my small and outdated bathroom. Since breakfast would be ready soon, we just showered. We had a whole week, nothing had to be rushed, so I wasn't totally disappointed. After we were both cleaned up we threw on some clothes. I remembered to bring a clean shirt and underwear, but if I would spend the whole week here I really had to pick more clean clothing up from home.

When we entered the kitchen there was a whole feast already waiting for us. Pancakes, fruit, eggs and you name it, it was there. There certainly was enough to make a whole army. Sookie did make it very clear this wasn't how she usually ate breakfast. For me, this definitely wasn't how I usually ate breakfast, so I piled up my plate and started eating. There was a comfortable silence as we ate. We were both very hungry, and were focused on filling our stomachs with all the food.

Sookie put our plates in the sink, and put the rest of the food in the huge fridge. After she was finished she climbed in my lap, letting her head rest on my shoulder.

"What do you want to do today?" she asked me.

"I don't know. You've got nothing planned?"

"Not for today. Tommorrow Sam and Amelia will come over, I hope you don't mind? It's been ages since I've seen them."

Her face lit up when she mentioned Sam and Amelia. She obviously cared about them a lot, and I couldn't help but hope that her face would do the same when she mentioned me to one of them, or anyone for that matter.

"I don't mind at all. I'd love to meet them." I said with an honest smile, ofcourse I wanted to meet her friends.

"And for today, I think I have just the perfect plan. Grab a sweater and meet me at the front door."

"You're not going to tell me what it is, are you?" she asked with a grin.

I shook my head slowly, also with a big grin on my face. Sookie immediatly ran upstairs, and returned just as quickly. I grabbed her hand and we walked over to my home. She never saw my home, not even before I came to work here. She let out a small gasp at the sight of my home.

"It's adorable!"

I rolled my eyes at the word adorable. Ok, maybe my home looked like a perfect little english cottage that could be featured in one of those boring magazines, but I was a guy. I lived with my father. We were _guys. _I just hoped she would not call the interior adorable, if so, I did something wrong with fixing up the place.

I entered the house, pulling Sookie along with me. Thankfully, the word adorable wasn't mentioned. She did however say that she didn't expect it to look like this, considering the house has been there for a while. My father wasn't around, but it was clear that he had been here, since there were dirty dishes and cups piled up in the sink. The house wasn't really tidied up. I remembered my bedroom was covered with clothes and music magazines, and some packs of cigarettes. _Shit. _To bad we just walked into my bedroom. Maybe she wouldn't even see them.

"You smoke?"

Sookie picked up one of the packs on the floor. Ofcourse she would notice them immediately, who was I even kidding.

"Yeah. But come now, we need to continue with my plan." I ushered her out of my room, hoping she hadn't noticed the bottle of vodka on my dresser. Note to self; clean up bedroom. In my defence, I rarely drank anymore. It was way worse when I was still in school, but sometimes I was just bored. There wasn't really that much to do here, besides hanging out with Sookie and working. My father knew, and approved. As long as I didn't get shitfaced and do stupid stuff. No need to go down that road again.

Sookie was awefully silent, but I chose to ignore that, just for now. She could judge me all she wanted, but she wasn't my boss. She would just have to accept me for who I was, and that might be a big problem in the future.

"I want you to meet someone special."

"Like who?" her eyes showed just how confused she was. I led her through the backdoor, and stopped in front of my motorcycle.

"This baby."

Sookie looked from my motorcycle to me, and back again, before bursting out laughing.

"You're such a guy." She said between breaths.

The corners of my mouth lifted into a pleasant smile and asked, "Want to go for a ride?"

"Sure!" And as soon as she agreed to go with me, I fetched my helmet and an extra one from the hallway. Sookie looked adorable wearing the helmet, but also very nervous.

"Never been on a motorcycle before?"

"No."

"Just hold onto me, I won't let anything happen to you. You know that right?" I kissed her firmly before putting on my own helmet and started the engine. Sookie jumped on behind me, her arms locked around my waist. As we started driving she almost suffocated me, but soon calmed down and her grasp became looser. There was nothing like riding somewhere, not really having a destination, just enjoying the sunshine and the wind. It has been a while, and as we drove along I realized how much I had missed this. Just driving. Freedom.

We left the property, and I rode down a long road, surrounded by fields of grass and forest. The perfect environment.

Somehow we ended up at a big open field, the green grass was in contrast with the clear blue sky. The tree in the middle really stood out, and the shade of the tree was inviting. It was a hot day, and as soon as we stepped of my motorcycle the heat was already hitting me.

Sookie thought the same, since she quickly pulled me with her, and let herself drop down on the grass underneath the tree. I sat down next to her.

She smiled at me, "that was nice."

I nodded, feeling content and enjoying the peace around us. The roads around the property were far from busy, and only once in a while there would be a car passing. No walkers, no bycicles, just cars. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the tree. Sookie let her head rest on my thighs, and I absentmindedly played with a strand of her hair. Twisting it around my fingers, release it, and repeat. I didn't even remember dozing off.

Sookie poked in my side, causing me to wake up with a groan. I opened my eyes slowly, the sun was bright and the sunlight stung in my eyes. Sookie just stared at me with an amused look on her face.

"We fell asleep," she giggled,"I think we should go back. We don't want to worry Becky."

I agreed, and soon we were back on my motorcycle again. Sookie was now less of a bundle of nerves, and it felt like she really enjoyed it. We should do this more often, but then I realized that her parents were gone, and when they would return we would be a secret again. That sucked, I didn't want my relationship with Sookie to be a secret, but there was nothing I could do.

I dropped her of at her house, and then went back to mine to fetch some more clothes. When we met again at her place, she was watching a movie. It was an old movie, Casablanca. I sat down next to her, and watched the movie with her. Becky brought us lemonade and snacks, and let us alone after that. Becky was like a ninja, crawling around in the shadows, only to make a quick appearance and then disappear again. The little company she gave us, was very enjoyable. Sookie was always very happy when she was around, that wasn't hard to notice. Sookie also spoke very highly of her, that she was like a mother to her. But she already had one. She had a mother and a father, but she never mentioned them. No funny stories, no memories or traditions that they had. The only thing I knew was that they were living in this house.

I was so consumed by my thoughts that I hadn't noticed the movie had ended, and the credits were rolling on the screen. It was a good thing I had seen the movie before, so if she would ask how it was and what was my favorite part I could answer her. But she didn't, she had other plans.

She crawled onto me, cradling my legs and started kissing me. Who was I to say no to that? I was still a guy, and I wasn't going to let my thoughts ruin a good make-out session. Our kisses deepened, and we were both moaning into eachothers mouth. Sookie's hands were in my hair, pulling me closer to her.

"What about Becky?" I'm not going to let her walk in on us making out on the sofa, or having sex on it. Sookie gave me a mischievous grin and climbed of me, pulling me with her.

She led me into her bedroom, and we were all over eachother again. Clothes had found their place on the floor within seconds. Suddenly, I remembered the shower in the morning. So instead of pushing her on the bed, I lifted her up and walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"You've got unfinished bussiness Northman?" she said with the sexiest voice I had ever heard, which made me even harder. I groaned, not being able to answer her question. I needed to have her, _now._

I pinned her against the tiles, grinding into her.

"Shit. Condom. Wait right here. Don't go anywhere." I said with a wiggle of my eyebrows, making her giggle. As I made my way back to the shower she was eyeing me from top to bottom. I knew I had a great body, and was.. well.. blessed. But seeing someone totally checking you out still felt good.

She jumped on me as soon as I entered the shower, and we were back on schedule. I let my hand trail down her stomach, and between her legs. She bucked against my fingers, moaning and begging me to 'just fuck her'. I removed my hand, and entered her in one swift movement. The sweet and slow sex last night was nothing like this. This was pure passion. Her nails dug in my shoulders as she came screaming my name, and I came screaming hers. I put Sookie down, still supporting her by holding her close to me.

We dried ourselves of, threw our clothes on again and decided we would go downstairs. Becky would have dinner ready soon, based on the smells coming out of the kitchen. I walked in, offering my help. She declined, saying it was her job and she was happy doing it. Sookie followed me into the kitchen, grabbing us something to drink. I'm glad Becky didn't mention the fact that both of our hair was wet and that she knew what we were doing. For Sookie's sake anyway. I grinned like an idiot, and Becky gave me a wink. Yeah, she knew.

We stayed in the kitchen, talking and drinking iced tea. Becky and Sookie planned some meals for tomorrow, and decided it would be great weather for a barbeque. My offer for help wasn't declined now, Sookie granted Becky the evening off and she would visit my father. That statement was accompanied by yet another wink, my father would be up-to-date as well tomorrow. I didn't mind, but I wasn't going to have an awkward conversation about sex. Not with my father.

Dinner was served, and it was fucking amazing. Becky really was a great cook, and I would ask her some cooking tips. When I looked over at Sookie I noticed how neat she ate, she was the polar opposite of me. I just shoved everything down. Manners weren't really my forté, especially table manners. Sookie ate perfect, like etiquette perfect. It wasn't a big surprise that I was finished much faster than her.

Sookie let out a big yawn.

"Sookie, go to bed. I will clean this all up." Sookie protested as normal but was shushed."No discussion. Eric you too. Tommorow is a big day."

And with that we were forced to go to bed. Sookie was very sleepy, and to be honest I also felt tired. We hadn't gotten that much sleep last night, however it was totally worth it.

I stripped down to my underwear and slid under the covers. I felt Sookie's tiny frame crawl against me, her warm skin on mine.

"Sweet dreams, lover."

"Sweet dreams, Eric." The smile noticable in her drowzy voice.

I, Eric Northman, lay in a bed with a beautiful girl and didn't have sex. It didn't even cross my mind. The only thing that crossed my mind was that this girl had ruined me for every other girl. My life would be shit without her, and I wasn't going to let her go.

I gave her a soft kiss on her shoulder and closed my eyes, feeling extremely happy.

"I love you." I whispered softly, not planning to let her hear it. Whispering it now, made all my doubts wash away, and I never was more sure about something before. With a smile on my face I drifted off, holding the girl of my dreams in my arms.


	8. Chapter 8: No More Runnin

**AN: a chapter with switching POV's. Let's party.  
All the mistakes are mine. Just enjoy the ride, it's going to be bumpy.**

SPOV

The next morning I woke up with my mind all over the place, instead of waking up content and peaceful like last morning. Eric's body was still flushed against mine, and his strong arms gave me almost no room to move. It made me feel safe, the way he held me. He was my blanket, and somehow I always felt the need to have him close to me. Apparently, he felt the same way. The past two nights we fell asleep holding eachother, and woke up the same way. Yes, there was comfort and yes it felt great. However, I couldn't remember if it was a dream or not, when Eric whispered 'I love you'. Why would he whisper it if he wanted me to know. Did I love him? I think I did, but telling him that would be hard. There would be the fear of rejection and if he really knew me, if I had the guts to spill everything about my life he might not feel the same way about me. Eric also had his secrets, that was sure, and if he couldn't open up to me about that, it was clear he didn't trust me. We've been so close, and yet there was this huge gray area between us. I never wanted it to be like this, I don't want to struggle with the truth, especially considering Eric. All this time I wanted someone who I could tell everything, and now that I had one I couldn't for the fear of ruining what we had. Our conversations flowed effortlesly, but when it came to the subjects we both wanted to avoid, we would close up. Eric always stiffened and his voice went cold, his eyes would darken and never met mine, and then he led the topic away from school. As for me, I just closed myself off. My parents were rarely mentioned by me, Eric knew nothing except for what his father would've told him. I wanted to tell him everything so badly, because I've wanted that for so long. But if he knew how broken I was inside, and how miserable I felt when he wasn't around he couldn't look at me the same way. That was impossible.

Maybe Eric shared my thoughts, because if it wasn't a big deal, he would've told me about why he left highschool. We needed to tell eachother, we needed to talk.

I brushed my –probably very tangled and fluffy- hair from my eyes, trapping it between the pillow and my head.

Today wouldn't be the best moment, since Amelia and Sam would come over. At least I would be getting some distraction, and then maybe Eric wouldn't notice any suspicious behaviour. Eric could read me like an open book, it was like he could sense my emotions. I don't think my inner struggle wouldn't pop up on his radar. I really had to talk to Amelia about all this. She knew everything about me, also everything that considered my parents. She would know what to do. Amelia also had some more experience with relationships, whereas I had none. Only Eric, but that was all the good stuff. Talking out problems with your boyfriend was something I had never done before. This whole situation went deeper than 'why didn't you text me' or 'you hang out with your friends too much, give me attention'. No, this wasn't like that at all, but in my mind I wished it was.

While I was planning away in my head, Eric stirred next to me. Luckily his arms gave me enough space to turn around, so I could face him. He looked so peaceful while he was sleeping, it was like watching a painting in a museum. If he only knew what went on in my mind. With every breath his chiseled chest would rise and fall, his pale pink lips were slightly curled up and strands of blond hair hung over his face. I reached out and let my fingers trace over his cheek, following the line of his jaw and then his neck. When I had reached his chest, he opened his eyes. His lips went from just curled into a radiant smile, that sended tingles all over my body. Within seconds I was trapped under him and his lips had found their spot behind my ear. All the kissing we had done so far made us both aware of eachothers soft spots. Mine were behind my ear, Eric's spot was his jaw. Kiss and nibble there, and he would be turned on like a christmastree.

"Eric," I managed to say between soft moans,"we need to get out of bed. Amelia and Sam are coming over, remember?"

With a groan of frustation he rolled of me, and sprawled out next to me. When I climbed out of bed to head for the bathroom Eric stayed put, showing that he had control when he wanted to.

"Think of me while you're in there."

The sexual tone in his voice, and the way his eyes darkened with lust as he said those words made me feel a blush starting from my toes. He sure knew how to make being responsible hard. That my friends were coming over weren't the only reason I passed. There also was this annoying voice in my head, that kept telling me to be honest and to put everything on the table. Sex with Eric was amazing, and I never regretted it nor would I regret it if we had some right now, but it felt wrong to just continue like nothing was bothering me.

As soon as I got out of the shower Eric got in. We both got dressed, and since my hair needed blowdrying Eric already headed downstairs for breakfast. It was nice to know he felt comfortable enough to just do his own thing. I appreciated his company, but at the same time I never felt the need to be followed around. Eric was perfect in that way, since he was very independant, in a 'make-yourself-at-home' way.

Eric was already done eating breakfast when I entered the kitchen, and was reading the newspaper. Well, looking at the comics. When he noticed me he threw the newspaper aside, not bothering with economics and sports, and gave me a small smile. It was refreshing, because reading the newspaper was my father's ritual, and it was also the view when I ate my breakfast. I think I prefered this view right now over the other one any day.

Eric's fingers were tapping nervously on the counter. He wasn't that calm anymore, not like the way he was when he just woke up. He could just be nervous about meeting my friends, hell, I would be nervous, but somehow it didn't feel that way. There was something more. I swallowed the last bite of my pancakes, and took another sip from my coffee, preparing myself for asking the question that has never left my mind ever since I woke up.

"Last night you said something, but I didn't hear it that well. What were you saying?" I'm such a coward, taking the easy way out. As soon as the question reached his ears, his fingers stilled, and suddenly the silver tap on the sink was very interesting, to him at least. This was torture, and I couldn't take it anymore. The silence was overwhelming yet was louder than ever. He didn't say it, he didn't love me. The whole thing was just a dream, I told myself. That was harder to handle, thinking it was a dream. Realizing that he wouldn't open up to me was so much harder. This was just one big mistake.

"Never mind, forget I asked." Without waiting for any reaction I jumped up to clean up my plate. In my rush I accidentally let the plate slip from my fingers, scattering bits and pieces of porcelain over the kitchen floor. My frustration hit it's peak at that point, and I knew that I had to leave this room, I couldn't handle this. So I ran, like a coward I ran outside. My feet kept moving and weren't slowing down. The whole scenario kept playing over and over in my head and that only made me feel more and more like I just did the worst thing ever. I gave Eric a chance to explain, he didn't do it, and after that I never looked his way again.

My heart was beating in my throat, and my breath was ragged from running when I finally reached my safe-place. The temple.

When I let myself slide down one of the marble collums tears began to pour down my face. My sobs became louder when I realized that the temple wasn't _my _safe-place, but _our _safe-place. Ofcourse Eric knew where to find me, and he did.

EPOV

Things had gotten awkward, and it was all my fault. I shouldn't have whispered it, not like that. And considering the way Sookie acted, maybe I shouldn't have whispered it at all. The way she blew me off, blaming it on the fact that her friends were coming over made it clear to me that I had crossed some sort of line. Amelia and Sam wouldn't be here for two hours or so, there was no need for any hurry. Yes, I was frustrated with the fact that once again I was doomed with morning wood and that the only option would be to will it away. Combine that with the fact that the girl I loved just blew me off, and lied to me while doing so.

Sookie was easy to read, for me at least. Her body was with me in this room, but her head was somewhere else, thinking about something else. Sookie wasn't a person that would open up easily, that was obvious, but why not to me? Ok, maybe I haven't told her everything, but I wanted to. But how do you tell someone the truth, knowing that they'll judge you or leave you to deal with your own misery. I wanted to be the person Sookie could spill her heart out to, which is a big deal because I never thought I would even want that.

I heard the shower water running, which made me think of yesterday, something I shouldn't have done. Not only was a part of me now very hard, but it made me realize that I was being shut out. Walls were in construction. Sookie was just as stubborn as me, which could be really annoying, especially now, because it would be a lot of work to break them down.

_Way to fuck this shit up._

I let out a exasperated sigh and slung my legs over the edge of the bed, rubbing my eyes and craddling my head in my hands. Why would people go through all this shit just so they could say they were in a relationship? Every time I repeated the question in my mind there would be a bigger part of me that questioned the situation between me and Sookie. Yes, I loved her. But if things could go from being fantastic to being totally fucked up so easily, there would be more at stake than my father's career. Because right now, my heart felt like it was stomped on numerous times by a mammoth. Not that Sookie was a mammoth, but just as a figure of speech. Sookie still was very hot, and very much naked in the shower right now. I cursed out loud for letting my mind go there. This wasn't working.

After Sookie was finished in the shower I jumped in right after her, making it the quickest shower possible, just so I could get some time alone to think. As suspected, Sookie wasn't finished when I was, and I went downstairs to eat breakfast. Becky wasn't around. It was like she could hear and see everything and everyone in this house, she always was around when she was needed and wanted. Creepy, but still good, because I didn't want to snap in front of her. I needed to get my shit together if I wanted Sookie's friends to like me, if I even wanted to meet her friends. She didn't feel the same way, and it wouldn't last. It's strange that I usually was in control, but now felt helpless. I let myself get pulled into this relationship thing, and no good came from that. My hand went through my still damp hair more than ever, stupid nervousness. Distraction was found, and it was in form of those little comics in the newspaper. It always struck me that some just weren't funny at all, some I didn't get at all, and some made me crack up. The last option rarely happened, newspapers weren't my priority in the morning.

Sookie entered the kitchen, her hair dried and pulled into a ponytail. She had pretty hair (_pretty? _You think like a girl) and it was the same shade as mine. When I memorized the time we had joked about that, I couldn't help but flash her a small smile. Even though she made me feel miserable, she still made my heart beat like a fucking jungle drum. The power she had over me was insane, and I was sure she was oblivious to that fact.

There was no conversation as she ate her breakfast, and that drove me crazy. My fingers were tapping a rythm that even annoyed me, but Sookie didn't gave it any attention.

"Last night you said something, but I didn't hear it that well. What were you saying?"

She sounded nervous, afraid of my answer. I couldn't look at her. Was I supposed to tell her the truth? Or lie to her.

"Never mind, forget I asked" I flinched at hearing that. Her voice cracked when she said it. I hated that I was the one that made her cry now. But before I could take any action, her plate was in pieces on the floor, and she was gone. If I stayed put now, it would be the end. I'm not going to lie, I had thought about ending this all, but when it all came down to it I couldn't. After running through the house, opening every door in search of her, searching through every room, calling her name but not getting a reply, and not finding her I felt gutted. This sucked.

Searching the whole property would take hours, and she wouldn't just come to me. Suddenly, I remembered the place where we first meeted with eachother. It was her favorite place, a place where she could think and just get away from it all. In this moment, to get away from me. I ran outside, down the paths and through the forest, taking shortcuts where it was possible. The sun was gone, and the sky was filled with dark grey clouds. It didn't take long before it started pouring with rain.

_Are you kidding me? I know this is all very dramatic, but why does it have to fucking rain._

When I reached the temple my clothes were soaked, and my body shivered, but upon seeing Sookie sitting there that all didn't matter anymore. Her eyes were red and puffy, the little makeup she was wearing smeared over her cheeks. Fuck.

Not wanting to scare her off I walked slowly towards her. She didn't acknowledge my presence, and just kept her icy stare pointed at her shoes. I kneeled in front of her, trying to make eyecontact, but not succeeding. I wanted to hold her hand, or just wrap her in my arms, but I knew that I couldn't. I was the dick that made her cry like this. After a with tension filled silence, only broken by Sookie's soft sobs and sniffs and my heavy breathing, I decided that it was now or never.

"Sookie. I love you. I love you so much, and it scares the shit out off me. I don't know how to deal with this. But I want to learn how to deal with this because I don't want to lose you, you're everything to me." Her gaze connected with mine, still glazed from unshed tears. She didn't interrupt, so I continued.

"I know you're holding something very big from me, and that it drives you crazy. And I'm holding something back from you, and that's dumb. But I'll tell you know, because you have the right to know." She nodded slowly, and I took a deep breath before spilling it all.

"I was a nightmare in highschool. Teacher's hated me, and I treated everyone like shit. Like I didn't care that I fucked everything up. I drank, and partied with the wrong people, basicly do everything a teenager shouldn't be doing. One time, there was a guy and he was making fun of me being abandoned by my parents, and I lost it. Everything went black. The next thing I knew he was lying on the floor, bleeding and coughing. Turns out I broke his arm, nose and some ribs. Fuck. It was stupid, but I just didn't even think about it. If people hadn't stopped me... I don't even want to know what would've happened. After that, I got kicked out, and no other school wanted me. Then I went here and I met you, and you changed me. You helped me.."

When Sookie pulled me in for a hug I couldn't continue with my story. There was a weight lifted off my shoulders, and it felt amazing. After a while of just holding eachother she placed her forehead against mine. I closed my eyes, drowning in her scent and presence. She whispered my name, and I opened my eyes.

"I love you." she said. Her voice was still hoarse from crying, but that didn't matter to me. She loves me. Even though I shouldn't be loved, she did. It felt amazing. Sookie also continued.

"My parents barely recognize my existance. And I don't know why. They don't love me. I feel like they wouldn't miss me if I was never born. They make me feel like a burden, instead of a addition to their lifes. They're never proud, they never ask how I feel, they never wish me goodnight, they never ask about my life. You give me that."

Tears were streaming down her face again, and I didn't blame her. Her life was perfect in my eyes, but it wasn't. I felt like a fool for not noticing it sooner. Softly, I brushed the tears from under her eyes. I held her closer, whispering soothing things in her ear, saying that it was good she told me, and that I would do everything to make her happy. After a while her sobs subdued, and she faced me again, leaning in and kissed me. Our lips parted, deepening the kiss. It was slow, sweet and full of emotion. Sookie broke the kiss off, and smiled.

"I love you," she whispered again before attacking me with her lips again, now more hungrily. "I love you too," I whispered against her lips and shifting her so she was now straddling me. I don't think I'll ever tire of saying or hearing it. Never. The way her body moved against mine, the way her hands moved over my skin, the way she kissed me; it was different now that I knew she loved me too.

SPOV

Everything was out in the open now. He loved me too, and was very busy proving it to me. His story was shocking, but I realized that he had changed. My story also wasn't one big fairy tale either. But we had at least one thing in common, we were both lost before we met eachother.

We were still kissing, letting our hands roam over eachothers body. It was slow and sweet, it was like we were getting reacquainted with the way our skin felt when it touched the other's skin. Eric moaned in my mouth when I moved against his erection, and pulled me even closer to him, tangling his hands in my hair. My hands moved under his soaked tshirt, my fingers following the muscles on his stomach. Just as my fingers reached the button of his jeans we were pulled out of our world. My mobile phone was playing Amelia's ringtone. I tried to catch my breath before answering it, and trying to make it sound like I wasn't totally dry humping my boyfriend who just said that he loved me 10 seconds ago.

"Soooooook."

"Hey Meels." I said with an airy tone. Eric just smirk at me, still letting his fingers roam over my chest, grazing my breasts. I failed at surpressing a moan, but immediately slapped Eric's hands away playfully.

"Stop the sex. Sam and I will arrive in 5 minutes. Please shower." And she hung up. It all sounded like a statement, instead of a request. She would make a good manager.

This was going to be a long day.


	9. Chapter 9: Sun

**AN: Sorry for the delay. I feel so stupid for not updating for so long, and I'm very sorry. It's just that I hadn't had that much time.  
It's a short chapter, but I'll promise the next one will be longer.  
I hope everyone had a great Easter :]  
Enjooooy.**

SPOV

Eric and I couldn't help but laugh after Amelia's phonecall. The whole situation was just so weird. We fought, made up and were interrupted while doing so. Amelia would totally be grilling me with questions about my love life, and the same would go for Eric. My dear Amelia was the nosiest person to have ever existed, Eric however, fought that statement by telling me his friend Pam would be good competition. At least he had experience in dealing with not so subtleness.

Sam on the other hand was a lot calmer. He wasn't shy, but like a lot of people he had to warm up to you. In some weird way he always made me think of a dog, sniffing a person and slowly approaching him or her. Sam was always very kind. Amelia always told me that he liked me, but if he did, then he would've asked me out or something. Or at least tell me, because asking me out would be simply impossible. Just like Eric, Sam didn't meet the standards of higher society. His parents owned a bar somewhere in a little town called Bon Temps, which wasn't too far from here, and he never cared for material things. The few times my parents had met him, he would be smiling and looking very likeable with his shaggy hair and big brown eyes, but my mother wouldn't give him the time of the day. My father on the other hand was kinder, the little attention he would give him was always nothing but polite. Sometimes, a gush of jealousy would sweep over me. My father _could _act like the father he was, but it wouldn't be directed at me.

But right now, my father wasn't here. Nor was my mother. And I didn't want to think about them too much, because every time they would force themselves in my mind I would go from happy and content to groggy and feeling rejected.

The rain was still falling on our bodies, but it wasn't pouring anymore. Eric's tshirt was soaked, and there were some mudstains covering it. Probably from our making-up session. One look at my own attire made me realize I, too, had to change and shower. Amelia and Sam wouldn't mind waiting. Eric's deep voice slurred me from my thoughts.

"I don't think there will be any chance of having that barbeque today," I agreed with him on that statement,"and I think we need a shower." Again I agreed.

Eric –being, well, Eric- put a lot of emphasis on the 'we' and added a waggle of his eyebrows to the mixture. It was very hard to not throw myself at him, and just roll around outside getting even dirtier, and then have a really, really long shower to clean up. Yes, I was still turned on from earlier events, and I believe Eric was too, since his pants were looking very tight. There were two options; have quick seperate showers and be sexually frustrated all day, or have quick shower sex so I wouldn't have to think about the shower sex I would miss if we did shower seperately. The decision wasn't hard, and we started walking faster. When my house came in view, we were running. When we entered my house, we walked up the stairs, our bodies already tangled and pulling of pieces of wet clothing. At the top of the stairs, when I had just removed Eric's shirt and was working on the button of his jeans, while he was just lifting up my shirt we heard a loud cough. Immediately, we pulled apart straightening our clothes. Eric groaned when we did so, and I wasn't very happy either. But that soon disappeared, because the person who put a halt on our actions was Amelia.

I ran down the stairs, and hugged her. We both squeeled loudly –yes, sometimes I would squeel too- and jumped up and down. Sam gave me a hug too, and said hello on a not-supersonic-tone. I could hear Eric walk down the stairs, and when I turned around to grab his hand I noticed he still wasn't wearing his shirt. Amelia didn't mind at all.

"Sam, Amelia," I pulled Eric closer to me,"this is Eric. My boyfriend."

Eric and Sam did the handshake, while Amelia caught Eric by surprised and threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. Eric awkwardly patted her back, only returning the hug half. We all went to the kitchen, and I poured everyone a drink. Eric and I had some coffee to warm us up, we were after all still wet, and Amelia and Sam had some iced tea. They always drank that here, since they enjoyed the one Becky always made. They would even take a bottle of it with them, as a gift from Becky ofcourse. After some casual converstation, Amelia decided it would be fun to make me want to hide in a hole.

"So, what were you planning on doing walking up the stairs like that?" she asked casually, like she hadn't even noticed that there was a trail of shoes, socks, sweaters and a shirt on the stairway. Eric still hadn't covered himself up. It was very hard having a conversation with him, since his abs were begging me to be licked and bitten and nibbled and why was he even still wearing clothes. I want him so bad.

Wait. Focus, I thought to myself, my friends are here and I think I'm starting to drool. Not good.

Eric being his smug self just smirked and was very pleased with himself. That his eyes were full of want also didn't go unnoticed. And not just by me.

"Oh god. Just please go take a shower." Amelia dramaticly shouted,"just stop staring at eachother like you want to devour eachother. Sam and I will be fine. You two also smell like wet dogs. It's not very pleasant."

Her bold statement caused us all to erupt in laughter. I also blushed, but Eric didn't show any signs of embarassment, he just walked over and grabbed my hand. Soon we were walking towards my bathroom. When we reached the top of the stairs we grabbed our discarded clothing. It was mainly Eric's. He was quick when it came to taking clothes off.

The shower was welcomed, and I couldn't help but let out a sigh of contentment as the warm water hit my skin. Eric joined me not short after. We washed eachothers hair, just because we could. The whole act was not erotic, but it showed that we took care of eachother. Soon my body was back to it's normal temperature, and I closed the space between our bodies and let my hands roam his chest. After that things got heated pretty quick. Too bad that my mind kept repeating my friends were waiting downstairs, and even though I wanted Eric so very much, my inner hostess wasn't too pleased with my actions.

"Maybe we shouldn't." I managed to say inbetween moans, caused by Eric's skilled fingers. His mouth attacked my neck.

"Why?"

"My friends whom I haven't seen in ages are waiting downstairs. It just doesn't feel right."

Eric immediately stopped his actions and stepped out of the shower.

"Care to enlighten me with a reaction?" I said as I also exited the shower."Because it's pretty rude to just leave without responding."

We both grabbed towels and started drying off. Eric wrapped his towel around his waist, and walked into my room to fetch clean clothes.

"You're right." He said loudly, since he was in another room."And I want us to make love in a bed, and not hurry it. I'm going to have you all night long."

That statement shouldn't have sound that romantic to me, but somehow it did. Maybe after all, I wasn't such a hopeless romantic. It didn't take that long to get dressed. We both kept our distance now, and instead of clawing at eachother with passion we were just grinning at eachother. This was a boy I loved. This boy loved me too. In this moment that was all that mattered.

Had I already mentioned it was weird we could go from horny teenagers to just two people enjoying eachothers company? Because it was. Even though Eric was insatiable and pretty much always horny, the guy had willpower. He didn't want to rush our first time making love and that was what meant most to me. That the Eric who never expected himself to even be capable of love, was willing to wait and cherish it. Realizing that earned him a soft kiss on the lips.

"I love you." I whispered against his soft lips and I could feel him smile.

"I love you too." He whispered back.

Amelia and Sam were surprised to see us back so soon. It was obvious Amelia wanted to joke about Eric's stamina or something, but stayed quiet. We had some more pleasant conversation. Eric and Sam got along nicely, talking about motorcycles and Eric's job as a gardener. The passion when he talked showed how much he liked his job and I couldn't help but smile. Amelia and I were just gossipping, mostly about Bill Compton.

Amelia hated him and his parents. The names she called Bill were so shocking that I didn't even want to remember them. Sam and Amelia also took this opportunity to make me turn bright red by telling the good ol' embarrassing stories. Eric was enjoying them very much, and nearly fell of the barstool from laughing so hard. Too bad I didn't knew any stories about them, because he deserved some pestering. It was also too bad that I enjoyed seeing him laughing like that. His blue eyes sparkled and he looked happy. Who could hate someone that looked that happy? Not me.

"There also was this dinner at some very boring people's home. And Sookie was forced to wear these high heels." Amelia was crying from laughing so hard."So she walked of some steps and tripped and took down a very expensive vase. The people were so shocked and she just kept smiling and telling them it was just an ugly vase."

I laughed too at that story. The vase _was _ugly and it wasn't like I tripped on purpose. However, it wasn't a big surprise I was never allowed to come there again. My parents still kept visiting. Whatever, at least it gave me more alone time.

It hadn't stopped raining, so the plan to barbeque had to be canceled. Instead we chose to order a pizza and watch a movie. Amelia and I had a soft spot for romantic comedies. Even though the guys protested, Amelia wasn't someone you could walk over and when the pizzas had arrived, we were perched on the couch watching The Wedding Planner.

Eric had met his match and after a while he just let us choose the movie. I was tucked under his arm on the big couch, while Sam and Amelia were seated in the chairs, which were basicly small couches. It was safe to say we were all comfortable.

When Eric had finished his pizza he let his fingers glide over my arm, drawing little patterns, but said very little. He only commented that the guy talked funny. Amelia went straight to the actor's defense by saying he was very hot, and I agreed with her. Eric actually pouted, so I had to make him happy by saying he was hot too and gave him a kiss. He grinned after that and was very pleased with himself.

All in all it was a good evening and I had a lot of fun. Eric got along great with my friends, and it wasn't uncomfortable at all. And when the movie ended we played some guitar hero on the big screen. It was hilarious. Eric was very good, for someone who hadn't played it before. Amelia was just awful and never finished a song. The only competition was Sam, who also had the game, and eventually he won. We all sang along, very badly and time flew by. Soon it was time for bed judging on everyone's yawning. Amelia and Sam went to the guestrooms, so they would give Eric and me the 'opportunity to enjoy eachothers company in private' (Amelia's words, not mine), which left me and Eric sitting on my bed. Even though I really wanted him, I couldn't help but feel incredibly tired. This had been a long day and there was no energy left in me at all. Eric also looked dead tired, and was yawning as much as I did.

"Shall we just go to bed?" he asked as he took of my clothes and then his, and layed me down on the matress. I nodded with my eyes already closed not even able to form a complete sentence. The last thing I remembered was Eric pulling me against his body and spooning me before I fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning I was woken by a very hysterical Amelia. At first I wanted to be annoyed at her for just walking into my room and wake me in this unpleasant way, but when I saw the look on her face I felt scared. This wasn't how Amelia was supposed to look, and I already knew the news she would bring was very bad.

"Your parents are back." She whispered with a shaky voice.

**AN: Don't hate me for ending the chapter like this. *hides* **


	10. Chapter 10: On A Highway

**AN: another chapter. Be prepared, there will be happening a lot in this one.  
It's not all bad, there are also some good changes :D  
Enjoy**

**Chapter 10**

I jumped up immidiately, but made sure my naked body was still covered by the sheet. Eric was still sleeping like the dead and the fact that he looked to peaceful made me feel even worse, because I was the one that had to tell him things would get shit from now on.

"I'm going to make sure Sam is ready," Amelia sighed,"we are going to wait somewhere safe so the driver can pick us up. Eric can go back to his home right?"

I nodded slowly. And with that, Amelia was gone. This wasn't how it should've gone, we were supposed to spend at least another day together and have fun, but my parents were ruining my life once again. I shook Eric's body, repeating his name and telling him to wake up. Why did he have to be a deep sleeper?

Finally he opened his eyes, still drowsy and mumbled a good morning. He must've seen the panic written on my face because within seconds he sat up and looked at me with confusion. His hair fluffy and hanging in his face, but he brushed it away with his hand.

"What's wrong?" his voice was barely a whisper.

"Grab your stuff and get dressed."

He did as he was told with great speed without questioning me. He snatched his clothes from the ground and stuffed them in his bag, leaving the toiletries in the bathroom. When he was finished he stared at me with puppy dog eyes, an abused puppy, that is.

"My parents are here." I whispered and the expression on his face went blank. This was what Eric did, shutting himself off completely when things would go bad. It happened at our first fight and when we would talk about school. There was no movement in his body, he just stood there, staring at the floor. I threw on some clothes that were lying on the floor, not even bothering with the fact that they were dirty. Now wasn't the time.

"You need to get out."

Eric walked to the door of my bedroom, grabbing the handle and opened it a notch to peer out in the hallway. He nodded at me, telling me that the coast was clear and reached out to grab my hand. Together we snuck out off my bedroom, our bedroom. The bedroom we had shared. It broke my heart to leave it. This was our haven, and we were forced out of it because of the ignorance of my parents. We were powerless and couldn't do much except for running and hiding.

There were several places he could sneak out of the house, but none situated close to my bedroom. Eric could climb out off the windows in the guestroom Sam was using, since there was an extension, and that made it the good height to jump down from. My window was too high and the landing wouldn't be soft, considering the fact the ground was covered with gravel. Nobody would walk from that fall without an injury. Not even a ninja or something. Even though it sounded like a solid plan, the guestrooms weren't close and we needed to pass the stairwell. My parents would probably have ordered their chaffeur to drag their suitcases to their room. So their were 3 people we had to avoid. The chaffeur was a talker and I didn't trust him at all.

One of the other options was the front door, but that obviously wouldn't work. The last resort would be through the study of my father and then climb over the roof. At the end of that roof was a tree, which was perfect for climbing down and escape my parent's wrath. Again, the way over there would be tricky and dangerous. Christ on a cracker, this was not what I had hoped for. Eric noticed my turmoil, since I was panicking and jumpy.

"What's the plan?"

His voice was calm, as was the expression on his face. The calmness from Eric was comforting. Why he was so calm I couldn't understand. If we were caught, he was in deep trouble. I would be too, but my parents weren't going to kick me out. I hope. They weren't that heartless.

Just as I was about to answer him, there were voices coming from the stairs. The voices belonged to my parents. My mother's high pitched voice echoed trough the hall we were standing in. Without really thinking, I pulled Eric with me and ran back to my room. The door was closed with a slam. Ok, maybe that wasn't exactly 'stealth', but unfortunately I wasn't as calm as Eric.

"Hide in the bathroom. Quick!"

I ushered him into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Just in time, because my parents walked into my room only seconds after. I forced my crazy smile on my face.

My mother greeted me with an awkward hug. The scent of her perfume was suffocating and I held back a cough. It was obvious my mother had treated herself on some new clothes, a white pantsuit with red stilletto heels. She slowly turned around, showing of her outfit.

"What do you think?"

"It's nice." I smiled again and tried to sound nonchalant while asking how the trip was. My mother rolled her eyes and left the room, leaving my father to deal with that question.

"I had to return to do some bussiness." He waved his hand and it was clear no further information would be shared.

"Everything went well here I suppose?" he scanned the room slowly, as if he knew something wasn't right. My heart began to beat faster and my mouth went dry.

My father was a true bussinessman, and knew when someone would be lying. So I had to be very convincing and to not show any of the feelings that flew around in my body.

"Everything was fine." I stated with a smile. Not another word was spoken by either of us. I let out the breath I was holding when my father spun around and made an exit.

Suddenly, there was noise coming from the bathroom, it sounded like Eric had knocked something over and you could hear the glass shatter loudly. My father stilled, and turned around when he heard a muttered "fuck" on the other side of my bathroom door. It felt like everything went in slowmotion from that moment.

My father walked passed me, air swooping through my hair, and opened the bathroom door. Eric just stood there, smiling uncomfortable with ruffled clothes and bedhair. There was broken glass on the ground next to him.

"Goodmorning mr. Stackhouse." At least he tried to stay polite.

My father was furious. It would be possible to bake an egg on his head, it was that bad. The blood rushing to his head was making him almost purple.

"I'll be leaving now then." Eric muttered and tried to walk passed my father, but was stopped by my father's hand. Another silence.

"Sookie. My study. _Now_" he said in a threatening voice but still looking up at Eric, who gazed at me, his eyes in a dark shade. Before I knew it, I was pulled away roughly by my father, who had grabbed my upper arm. Once we were in the hallway my father called for the chaffeur and told him to drag Eric out of this house. At that moment I managed to escape my father's deathgrip on my arm, and ran back to my bedroom to find Eric sitting on the edge of my bed. Immidiately, I threw my arms around his neck and held him close.

"I'm so sorry," he sighed deeply,"I love you. Don't forget." And I could feel his arms pulling me even closer. Tears sprung in my eyes.

"I love you too." I whispered, because that's all I could do at that time. Eric whiped my tears away with his thumbs and kept telling me things would be fine. Even if we both knew damn well that wouldn't be the case. There were footsteps coming from the hallway again but now neither of us was going to run and hide, and soon I was pulled away again. What happened to Eric I didn't know. It was made sure by my father that I wouldn't flee again by walking fast and holder me even closer to him. Soon we had entered my father's study. It was a big room. Bookcases from floor to the cassette ceiling were lined against the wall facing his desk. Behind his desk were more books, interrupted by small statues and photos. I wasn't in any of them as far as I could see. My father placed himself on his leather armchair, behind his desk. His hands folded together, his ice cold gaze peeking over them directly into my eyes.

"Sit." He said coldly. Reluctant I sat down in the chair facing his desk. Somehow, I felt like I was interviewed by Lord Sugar. Too bad there wouldn't be a "you're fired" followed by a pointed finger. The red-purpelish glow was still colouring his face, his breathing was ragged. The annoying sound of an antique clock ticking away was making me anxious and I contemplated running. That wouldn't get me anywhere though. At least now I could defend Eric and hopefully make the timebomb that was my father understand how much the gardener's son meant to me.

"You're making a bad name for our family. Did you think you could just run around with a common gardener with no consequences at all? We would look like fools. I won't let you ruin this family." He shouted at me without a pause, seething with rage. But the last comment made me trade my tears for rage.

"Ruin this family?" I hissed through clenched teeth. "This isn't even a family and there's nothing to ruin. And for the record, don't talk about Eric that way."

My father's fist met the mahogany of the desk, causing me to jump up. I've never seen my father this aggressive and it scared the shit out of me.

"I can talk about that boy any way I want. He owes me everything, and now he will lose everything. Including you. There is no future for you two, and I will never allow to let there be one. You must understand it is your destiny to be married to someone of high standard, it was like that with me and your mother, and the same will go for you. Our fortune must be kept within the family. This is not negotiable."

My father had finished his speech, he was just red now but still shouted at me like I was deaf. After staring at me with cold eyes for a while, he walked over to one of the big windows and gazed outside. Probably admiring the things he had worked so hard for.

"If he goes. I'll go with him."

My father laughed, it was cruel and it made me question the fact that I was his biological daughter. How had I turned out normal? Well, more normal than him?

"No, you won't." He simply stated.

"I love him," I stood up slowly not wanting to be pulled by my arm again,"and he loves me. You can't keep us apart."

My voice was filled with determination. My father had no idea about how deep our feelings were, and I think he never even felt them. Not for my mother, not for me.

I left the room. At the door I gave a quick glance back, my father was still staring out the window, his fingers on his chin. He was thinking, about what I didn't know. And that scared me.

The hallway was quiet, nobody was upstairs anymore except for my father. Not wanting to share even a floor with him I went downstairs, also because Eric would be there if he was still in the house. My search didn't take long. Eric was standing in the hall at the bottom of the stairs. When our eyes met he grimaced. The sparkle and emotion in his eyes weren't there anymore, and his expression was blank. We wrapped our arms around eachother as soon as we were in eachothers reach. Eric planted his chin on my head, like he always did. My tears were once again flowing. The way Eric acted was enough information, he had to leave. Between sobs I asked him not to leave me here.

"Then come with me." He whispered in my ear. "I can't be without you."

There was a warmth that flew through my body, igniting every single fiber in my being. This was the right thing to do. I couldn't care less about what my parents would say or think about me, right now the only person who mattered was Eric. He was my family. Call me naïve and young, but I knew Eric and I were destined to be together. No other man could make me feel the way Eric made me feel; alive.

"I'll come with you." I whispered back. "But what about my stuff?"

Eric chuckled softly.

"I already packed some clothes for you, and the things I knew meant most to you. I know it sounds dumb, but I just wanted to be sure in case you said yes."

I smiled at him, he smiled back. I would've been offended if it had been anyone else, but he thought forward, and right now it had saved our asses. Because if I still had to pack, we couldn't run like we were going to.

"I still have some cash from my father," I whispered,"and we can work. We'll live life the way we want to live it."

Eric nodded and kissed me softly.

"Your dad will kick me out soon I think. Are you ready?" he held out his hand for me to take, I didn't hesitate for a second to grab it and together we ran away from the house, I didn't even want to call it _my _house anymore. My home was were Eric would be. I silently cursed Eric's long legs, one step for him were two and a half for me, and it was hard to keep up with him. Eric told me we could go a long way on his motorcycle, and after that he could sell it so we had more money once we had settled. It was our adventure, and I've never been more excited about anything. School wouldn't be a problem, I could figure a way out to finish it and Eric would just work.

Within 10 minutes –a record time- we had reached his home, his old home. Eric went inside to grab the money he had saved up together with some other crucial things and I made us some sandwiches so we had something to eat.

"Does your father know about your master plan?"

Eric stuffed a sweater in his backpack, closed it, and smirked at me.

"He does actually. So does Becky." My jaw dropped at that statement. I probably looked like a fish when I tried to speak, closing my mouth and then letting it fall open again. Eric grinned at me, but continued his talk, since I wouldn't respond.

"I called them when you were with your father, he's really loud by the way. Becky was enthusiastic about it and asked if she could look us up sometime. My father wasn't thrilled, but isn't planning on stopping us. As long as we're happy and I don't screw anything up again. But now I'm with you, and we're going on an adventure." The last word was said with a child-like enthusiasm and was teamed up with a beaming smile. "We can stay with my grandparents for a while, Becky will bring over your passport and all that, and then maybe we can go to Shreveport?"

His radiant smile and excitement was answered with my own, and I kissed him softly on the lips again. This was the beginning of our life together. _Our _life, it even sounded amazing thinking about that. It felt liberating that I could make my own decisions now, and not feel suffocated by the rules of my parents. I was old enough and now I also knew _what _made me happy. I knew this wouldn't always be this easy, and there would be rough patches –I'm not stupid- but that somehow felt exciting. Discovering the unknown. Falling down and standing up again. Bring it on, Sookie Susannah Stackhouse is ready.

We had been driving for a while, 3 hours or maybe more. Well, technically Eric was the one who did the driving. We had left the landscape of the countryside behind, and every 30 minutes there would be more and more civilisation. The forests had made themselves scarce, and instead of big open fields of grass there would be farmlands. The sandwiches I had prepared were already gone, what a surprise with someone who had Eric's appetite. He ate twice the amount in half of the time I ate, but at least he looked like he enjoyed them. That short break was also used to discuss some of our plans, well the ideas we had in mind. The only solid plan was staying with his grandparents.  
Even though Eric didn't think it would be necessary, I did want to call my parents. Just to let them know I was ok, even more so than I had ever been. I was expecting to doubt myself and question my decision, but I hadn't and I don't think I would in the future. Even though I had lived my life in luxury, it hadn't defined it. My mind was already accepting the fact that money would be short, and we both had to work hard to earn a living. At least we had some money, at least enough to let us live for 2 months. What can I say? My parents always gave me way too much money when I would be home alone or needed something. Team that up with the fact they _would _be gone for a week and you got a nice sum of money. Eric had also made some money while working as a gardener, so we were off to a good start. My parents just deserved to know, they were my _parents_. They had raised me –with a lot of help- and worked to support me and they had made me. Even though they were somewhat screwed up, I couldn't act like they meant _nothing _to me. Family is what you make of it, but they were my blood. My phonecall would be made when we would stop for gas and dinner. Because my phonecall probably wouldn't take long, I also would call Becky. Eric would be calling his father and then his grandparents. We had travelled a long time, and faster than expected, so we would arrive there just before midnight. Eric and I made an agreement that we would wait with calling friends for a while.

All in all, life felt pretty good right now. Even though my parents found out about me and Eric, they had pushed us in the right direction. Without Eric I also would've never left home, even though I always wanted to. Without Eric I was forced to marry some boring Bill-like person, and spend the rest of my life unhappy. Without Eric I wouldn't know what being truly happy felt like and how it felt to be in love.

I wrapped my arms closer around him, snuggling up against his back. His hand patted mine for a moment, and then returned to help steering the motor.

Even though it was a small gesture, it meant everything to me and I giggled softly in my helmet. Let real life begin.


	11. Chapter 11: Waterloo Sunset

**AN: Whoa! This story is back from the dead. I lost the inspiration a while ago, and suddenly it came back to me. I've been tapping away non-stop.  
Hope you'll enjoy it. There will be new characters in this chapter, and I hope you'll enjoy them.  
Btw: I've been watching Harry Potter, can you notice?  
Enjooooooy!**

* * *

Sookie and I had been driving all day now, and it became harder and harder to ignore the growling of my stomach, that was begging for food. I drove the motorcycle on the deserted parkinglot of the next gasstation, and gave Sookie the opportunity to step off.

She went to the diner next to it, to order our dinner and I drove on to tank. My legs were sore from sitting in the same position for so long, and I was relieved we could sit for a while. The drive to my grandparents would take about another hour, which meant we would be arriving earlier than I had planned, but that was a good thing, Sookie obviously was very tired.

I paid for the gas and parked the motorcycle on the parkinglot. The diner wasn't busy, and Sookie and I were the only one except for three more people and the waitress, but that was expected since the sun had set a while ago. I walked over to the booth at the windowside that Sookie had picked out. She smiled at me as I slid into the booth, facing her.

"Do you want coffee?" the waitress said, while smacking her gum and looking around even though Sookie and I were the most interesting thing in this dump. We both nodded and ordered cheeseburgers with french fries. Sookie followed the waitress with her eyes, an offended look on her face.

"Not used to being treated that way, huh?" I asked her with a grin. There was an adorable side to it, Sookie being so jaded. Being so used to people acting on their best behaviour and with impecable manners. Now she was being talked to like she was nothing more than a little fly, and it was a smacking, gum-chewing waitress with a bad dye job to boot.

She didn't respond to my question, except for a shrug.

We sipped our coffee in silence while we were waiting for our food, which was brought over 10 minutes later. We both immediately dug in and scoffed it down in a record time. I don't think I saw Sookie ever eat this fast. She still managed to keep her table manners to her normal style, I gave her credit for that in my mind. Something told me that she wouldn't be amused with me cracking another one 'life's not what you thought it would be'-jokes. With a small smile on her lips she handed me some tissues to clean the ketchup of my fingers. Her hands were spotless, whereass mine were sticky and covered in sauce.

The waitress came with the bill, and I placed some bills on the table. Before we got moving again Sookie whiped some ketchup from the corner of my mouth, and then sucking it from her fingers. Minx. I didn't even care it had been there for a while. I would gladly have ketchup all over me as long as it meant that Sookie would lick it off me. Maybe we should have icecream as dessert.

"Are you coming?" she asked giggling.

I nodded, still a little dazed from my fantasies that involved whipped cream and a certain naked blond girl. I got up and grabbed Sookie's hand. Together we walked outside. A breeze was blowing over the parking lot, it was now completely dark and the absence of homes and population was making it look as if we were on some slasher-movie set. Creepy.

Sookie stopped me when I wanted to place her helmet on her head.

"We should call everyone now," she fished her mobile phone from her pocket and dialed a number, "hey Becky."

She paced the parking lot, talking into the phone with Becky. From Sookie's tone it seemed as if we had nothing to worry about for the moment. She even laughed. It was the best sound. Suddenly I remembered that I should call my dad and grandparents. Sookie had hung up and gave me a reassuring smile.

"So what's the deal?"

"Well... my parents are pissed. At least my dad is, my mom apparently misses her little girl and has no idea why I turned out this way. You don't have to call your dad, he was there with her. He's still a little sceptic about our whole plan."

I grimaced at that part. I could see where he was coming from, since this wasn't the most solid plan in history. There was a part of me that wanted to proof to him I could take care of my own, and take care of someone else as well without screwing up. I didn't know if he knew, but this wasn't a heat of the moment thing for me. Me and Sookie running of was the start of our life together, and not a teenage crush gone wild. Well, maybe it was rather impulsive, but there wasn't any other way to pull this off. Had we waited longer I would've been kicked out and never let close to the estate again, and Sookie probably would've led her life in a secluded fashion and never let near to any boys again. Another part of me wanted to give Sookie a normal life, as normal as could be managed. She should hang out with her friends, go to parties, watch chickflicks and sneak out in the middle of the night to do dumb stuff. At least she did one of those things more than once.

"Anyway, expect my parents to take action. I should call them now actually. They can try all they want, I'm not going back. Not without a fight."

She gave me a cheeky grin, I gave one right back. My girl was a fighter. It was hilarious, since she didn't share one characteristic with her parents. Like she wasn't raised by them at all.

I saw her hesitate to press the call button, and before my brain registered my movements, I stood in front of her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in for a big hug. She relaxed in my arms and pressed to make the phonecall. I could hear the phone, since the parking lot was empty and there were no sounds around us. The phone went over a couple of times, after the 5th time or so a man picked up. Great, her father.

"Dad?" after that followed an angry voice. Sookie struggled to speak, the man rambled on and on, giving her no room to talk.

I could pick up parts of the one-sided conversation. There was something about "do you know how you make us look right now", "you will never find a man that will put up with you" and "you're a disgrace to our family". Sookie fidgeted with the zipper of my leather jacket, looking more and more nervous as the rant kept going.

After hearing "don't think you can run from your life, you don't belong with those people" I had enough. I grabbed the cellphone from her hands.

"Enough," I was seething, "you don't have to force her to make decisions she doesn't want to make. You're not in control of her life. She's happy now, and as her father you should be _happy _for her. Sookie's too special to be made into a puppet of balding upper-class twats that have a stick up their ass 24-7."

There came a barking laugh from the other side of the line, making me more furious. I actually wanted to drive back and punch him in the face.

"Stupid boy. Don't expect to make it far. She doesn't belong with you and she never will. Soon she will see what a miserable mistake this is and you're incapable of taking care of her. Do you really think she'll be happy living like the poor, with you? Enjoy your time together while you can. I guarantee it won't be long."

Now it was my time to laugh. I made sure I matched his mocking tone that was so clear in his laugh.

"We'll see about that."

And I hung up, angry and frustated. Sookie looked at me with big eyes, filled with worry.

"Thanks." She mumbled before snuggling against me. I kissed the top op her head.

"I know this may sound weird, but I'm so much more determinated to not get caught and be happy with you."

Her voice was muffled, but the words were powerful and mirrored my feelings exactly. Except for the fact I now wanted to punch her father. I doubt Sookie would do that.

"He said they will start looking. We can't stay with my gran and grandpa for a long time. A day, maybe two days."

Sookie nodded, still tucked away in my embrace. After a couple of minutes she pulled away and let me put her helmet on her head. We were back on the road again shortly after that. During the drive I remembered I forgot to call my grandparents. Oh well, they knew we were going to be there anyway.

I let out a sigh of relief when we entered the town where they lived. It had been a long drive and sleep sounded like a great idea. Sookie shouted "finally" and I couldn't agree more. Traveling is tiresome.

We both jumped –descending like 80-year olds due to our stiff muscles, that is- from our transport after driving up the driveway we stretched and let out long sighs. I told Sookie to wait on the porch as I put my baby next to the garage, she had done well. I might've patted the thing. It was nice to have driven this long, even though my body hurt like a bitch right now.

I walked up on the porch and grabbed Sookie's hand as I knocked on the front door. I took the time waiting for either of my grandparents to open it to check out the neighbourhood. It was a normal neighbourhood, with houses that were your typical suburban homes. There were some swings, normal cars and there were still lights on in some of the rooms around the street.

The door was being opened by my gran, who beamed at us with her enchanting smile. She crushed me and Sookie in a big hug while pulling us in the hall.

"You two must be exhausted. Come, come. Put your bags here in the hall. I will tell Niall to bring them to your room so you two can sit down for a while. Where is that man? Always wandering around the house doing his stuff. Hello Sookie, I've heard so much about you. I'm Hedwig, his gran."

The overwhelmed Sookie was being pulled in for another hug. I should've warned her, my gran was definetely the most energetic woman I knew. She had way to much spirit for someone her age, but I always seemed to like it. Sookie liked her too, from the way the shock on her face turned into happiness.

"Nice to meet you," Sookie smiled, "I love your home. It's very kind of you to let us stay here."

My gran gave me a quick smile, that was a good thing. She had approved of Sookie, but then again, who wouldn't. My gran waved her hands.

"Nonsense, it's our pleasure. It's kind of exciting to have fugitives in our home," she let out a small laugh, "do you want some tea before you go to bed? Niall! Go put on some water for our guest and your grandson!"

My gran smiled again and pulled Sookie along to the kitchen. I grabbed our luggage and went up the stairs, no need for my grandpa to put them away. I walked into –what I expected to be- our room and sat them down at the end of the double bed. My gran wasn't that conservative, however, my grandpa would need some coaxing. Whereass my gran was a small bundle of never-ending energy, he was a lot more calmer and serious. I took of my jacket and shoes and threw them on the chair in the corner. I was exhausted.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon again."

I jumped a little at the sudden presence of Niall. Maybe it was because he had been in the army, but he always snuck up on me. I hadn't even heard his footsteps on the old wooden planks. I shrugged my shoulders, unsure of how to respond.

"I hadn't planned for things to go this way. I really wanted to be better. I am better."

My granddad nodded in a regal way. He had a constant air of confidence, but was never arogant. I liked that.

"I know, boy. You wouldn't have brought her with you if you weren't a better man. You have hurt a lot of people, whether it was your plan or not to do so, but I do hope that is over. Especially now that you have someone else to think about. It will be hard, and you two will fight, but it will be the end if you two start doubting eachother. Trust is key."

I took in his speech and nodded.

"I won't let you down. Again."

My granddad smiled, displaying his perfect white teeth. Even though he wasn't that young anymore, you could see he had been a looker in his younger days, just like my gran. When I looked at their weddingpictures, you could see that they were a match made in heaven.

I grinned in return.

"Now let's drink that tea before your silly gran will scare Sookie of with all her talking."

We both laughed, and as we walked down the stairs to the kitchen he slung his arm over my shoulder. Right now, when you forgot the tricky situation Sookie and I were in, everything seemed to be perfect. It sure felt that way.


	12. Chapter 12: She's Not There

**AN: Here's a quick update. This is SPOV. I hope you'll enjoy it. :]**

* * *

When someone would ask me; what the best word would be to descride Hedwig, it would be energetic. I don't think I've ever seen a person that full of life. To be honest, it was a nice change from all the stiff people I was used to be around, except for Becky, she was way too kind to deserve that label. I owed Becky a lot. I hadn't even taken of my jacket, and I was already sat down at a table with a cup of tea in front of me. She asked me simple questions, thank God, and I hadn't had to put too much energy into thinking about the answers.

"Oh sorry child, I forgot to take of your coat." She tugged on the wool fabric and almost ripped it off me, "there, there."

She left the kitchen to hang it away. And that's when Eric walked in, with his granddad, Niall. They were laughing, a beautiful sight. Eric had an amazing laugh and smile, and you could see that he got it from his granddad. I beamed at Eric, finally letting myself relax. It had been a tense day, and nerves often had gotten the best of me. Running away isn't something that I had imagined doing. Ever.

Eric sat down next to me, and Niall took a seat across the table. He eyed us with an amused expression.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to finish your tea. If you want to go to bed, that's fine. Don't let my wife drive you crazy." He added a wink. As if it was timed, Hedwig walked back into the kitchen in a fast pace.

"Hush, you." She gave Niall a playful smack on the head making his perfectly styled hair fly around, "drink your tea Eric."  
So far for not having to drink tea.

She placed a cup of the hot liquid in front of him, together with a small plate of biscuits. Eric eagerly grabbed one and ate it in one bite. I sipped my tea, somehow the drink relaxed me even more. This is what family should be, right? They made me feel at home immediately. Niall and Hedwig were the example of how I wanted to be with my husband, 40 years from now. It was obvious they still were head over heels, teasing eachother but gazing at eachother with nothing but respect and love. Something I wasn't used to seeing. My parents would bash eachothers head in after 10 more years together. At least, that's how they acted. There was no love, no, they acted as if they were forced to be together. And come to think about it, they probably were.

Eric grabbed another biscuit, devouring it the same way he had the other, in one bite.

"Eric, watch your manners. I swear, sometimes you seem like a lost cause. Sookie, how do you put up with his horrible eating habits. It's like his stomach is a big black hole.."

Eric leaned back in the small wooden chair and smirked at his Gran with his mouth full. The comment did not bother him, very little bothered him. I smiled at Hedwig after looking at Eric who now had trouble to chew. I never felt as if I 'had to put up' with things Eric did, they simply made me love him even more.

When I told her so, Eric's eyes lit up, and showed me all his teeth in the biggest smile even after swallowing the mouthfull of treats he had stuffed in his mouth. Niall and Hedwig were wearing big grins themselves.

"Well, well, well.. Eric should feel very luck with such a sweet girl on his side." Niall said with a wink. His whole family seemed to have nailed the winking down to a tee. I could feel my cheeks burn up from all the atention and the compliment -and Eric's hand on my thigh, which was slowly travelling upwards. My heartbeat quickened.

"We should go to bed. Thanks for the tea," Eric drank his tea and gave his gran a kiss on the cheek and his granddad a pat on the shoulder, "you ready Sookie?"

I nodded and drank my own tea and walked over to where Eric was standing.

"Thanks for everything. Goodnight."

Niall nodded, Hedwig waved off my thanks and claimed it was her pleasure. They were both too kind. It actually took me a little effort to get used to it. They were going out of their way to make me feel comfortable, and they weren't getting anything in return, except my gratitude. It felt odd. They were selfless, kind people. However, I couldn't help but think why Eric had been kicked out of school, if his life was this good. Why had he done something that would force him to leave this –what seemed to be- perfect place? Maybe I hadn't seen every side of Eric's aggression. Although the looks on his face during the phonecall with my dad had been a good preview. I swear, his teeth would shatter if he grinded them harder, and there was a vein in his neck that could pop any second. Seriously, creepy stuff. But then again, I knew he also was kind, sweet and would do anything for me. Noone had ever treated me that way. Eric was special and I truly loved him.

He showed me the bathroom and let me take care of my needs while he went to retrieve our toothbrushes from our bags. We brushed our teeth side by side, smirking and giving eachother glances in the mirror. It was very domestic, and I liked it. Except for having to spit the foam in the sink, I probably looked like an idiot, while Eric somehow even made _that _look sexy. I went to our bedroom, changed into my pyjamas and crawled under the covers. The soft matress and pillows were pure heaven after all those hours on the padded seats of Eric's motorcycle. Eric krept under the covers after coming back from the bathroom as well, wrapping his arms around me, and it was a pleasant surprise that he had stripped down to his boxers. Even though I was too tired to try anything, and I was sure the same went for him, it was nice to feel the warmth of his skin surrounding me. It made me feel safe. We both dozed of within seconds.

The birds singing outside woke me from my sleep. It was a peaceful way to wake up, and I hadn't felt this rest in a while. Eric was still sound asleep next to me, or on me, or under me. His body was wrapped around mine in an octopus-ish way. Nature was calling me, and I managed to wiggle myself from his deathgrip without waking him. I took care of bussiness and went downstairs to get something to drink. There was a piece of paper lying on the table.

_We're in town. There's breakfast in the oven for you two to eat. _

_Eric, if you're reading this; watch your table manners. Sookie if you're the one reading this; make sure Eric watches his table manners. You can smack him if you want._

_Hedwig_

I chuckled after reading it, his gran really was a funny woman. I left the note exactly where it was, so Eric could read it and maybe take the advice to heart. I knew he wouldn't, but his Gran was clearly trying.

There was a glass in the sink, so I rinsed it thoroughly and drunk a glass of water. Grabbing that glass saved me the effort of going through all the cupboards, and it felt weird to make myself at home. I decided to crawl back into bed with Eric. But as soon as I was back into the bedroom, I noticed the bed was empty. Dang. There goes my surprise.

Before I knew it, I was being tackled on the bed by a very active Eric.

"Morning." He grinned at me before attacking my mouth with his.

"Goodmorning. Your grandparents aren't home." I mentioned, I didn't even know why. Ok, maybe I did. Who could blame me, Eric made me this way.

"I know," he wiggled his eyebrows before tapping his finger on his chin, and humming as if he was thinking, "what can we do?"

I laughed and pulled his face back to mine, wrapping my arms around his neck. We kissed lazily for a while, enjoying the peace and the feel of eachother's body. I could feel Eric's excitement against my thigh, and I was getting pretty hot and bothered myself.

Eric pulled my oversized sleepshirt over my head, leaving me naked except for my panties. My shirt ended at the side of the bed, and Eric's hands went straight to my breasts. In record time he had me writhing underneath him.

"Eric. Please." I can't believe I was begging him.

"Please what?"

He made answering that question very hard, since he decided he was going to attack my neck and collarbone with his talented mouth. I roughly pulled his face back to mine with my hands twisted in his messy bedhair.

"I want you inside of me. Now."

We had one last heated kiss before Eric jumped off me in search for a condom. He grabbed one from his bag and I heard the pack being ripped open. He crawled back on the bed, ridding me of my underwear. His fingers felt if I was ready, and I certainly was. I needed him. It was almost pathetic. I wanted to whine and beg him to just enter me. I cried out when he finally did. My legs wrapped around his waist and my hips met his with every thrust.

He hitched my legs up higher, hooking my legs over his underarms, now hitting a spot that I didn't even knew existed with every movement he made. I was thanking the gods his grandparents weren't home, because we certainly weren't quiet. Eric was groaning loudly and I was crying out with every thrust.

There were stars in my eyes when I came, and Eric soon followed with a roar. He collapsed next to me, breathing heavily. He was the first to move, running down the hall to dispose of the condom. I couldn't move even if I wanted to. If there would be a fire right now I would be screwed, both literally and figuratively. A giggle escaped me when I thought about it.

"What are you giggling about?" he asked when pulling me against his body after re-entering the bed.

"It's nothing. I'm just happy."

Eric let out a content sigh and kissed every part of my body he could reach in his current position.

"Me too.. I love you." I could feel him smile against my sweaty skin. The room was suddenly warmer than before, probably because of our 'exercise'. We should air it before Hedwig and Niall decide to check up on us in here.

"I love you too." I answered and snuggled closer against him. We stayed like that for a while, our naked bodies flush against the other, lazily placing kisses, telling eachother random stuff.

"I should take a shower," Eric groaned but released me from his grasp.

"It will be very lonely without you in there." I told him with a pout, and walked into the hall. It was the right thing to say, since Eric shot out from under the covers and scooped me up.

An hour or so later we were walking into the kitchen. I went straight for the oven, getting out our plates and setting them down on the table. My stomach was growling, and I couldn't wait to dig in. Eric poured us both a cup of the most delicious coffee and sat down at the table. It was then he noticed the note. He read it and smirked. I quirked an eyebrow at him and he quirked one right back.

"Are you going to judge me and hit me on the head while I enjoy my breakfast?"

I laughed and shook my head.

"I kind off like it when you eat like a viking."

Now it was Eric's turn to laugh. After we both calmed down we dug in. Even though it had been in the oven for a while, it was tasty nevertheless. There was a wave of sadness coming over me when I thought about the fact we couldn't stay here for long. Eric felt the shift in my mood and grabbed my hand, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb.

"Why so sad all of a sudden?"

I shrugged my shoulders, earning a look from Eric that screamed 'really?'. His raised eyebrow told me that he wasn't going to let it slide.

"It sucks we can't stay here for a while. We have to get moving soon, right? Your grandparents are such kind people. They make me feel at home, and that's something I haven't felt in a long time. I don't want to lose this feeling I have now."

Eric brought my hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss on it. It made me feel warm inside, such a small gesture, but it meant the world to me.

"Home is where you are. You are my home, Sookie. I want to build a home with you. One day, I will ask you to marry me. Not now, but I promise that one day I will."

He said it with so much confidence and sincerity that I could feel me tears well up, he was ready to give everything up for me, to take the leap. When a tear rolled down my cheek Eric's thumb swept it away.

"Don't cry. Why are you crying, you silly girl?" Eric asked me with a soft smile. I smiled through my tears back at him.

"I want what you want. And when you'll ask me to marry you one day, I promise my answer will be yes."

We smiled at eachother, my tears still falling, but they were happy tears. I had to reassure Eric that a couple of times. The badboy couldn't handle crying women, it was actually cute. After a while he thought of a different approach to end my tears, which involved me straddling his legs and testing out the strenght of the old wooden stools while shamefully grinding into eachother while full-on making out. Turns out it did help. I should cry more often.

"Careful, you two don't want to destroy our furniture. Do you?"

Holy. Crap.

I hid my face in the crook of Eric's neck, feeling my head burn from the shame. I could hear Hedwig and Niall laugh heartily, and then Eric telling them something in Swedish. The conversation carried on that way for some time. I didn't understand a thing, but didn't tell them to talk english. I was still too embarassed to face either of them, and from the tone of their voices, maybe I didn't even want to know what they were talking about. After I heard their footsteps fade away I decided to crawl from under my cover. Eric let out a long sigh. I looked at him in confusion, while Eric looked at me with a blank stare.

"Your father called my grandparents. He's coming over today. We need to leave now."

I slumped against his chest in defeat. The hope of staying at least another day was squashed.

"We should go pack then." I could hear the sadness in my own voice. I wanted to get up and do that, but Eric cupped my face, meeting my gaze with his icy blue eyes.

"Sookie. We can do this."

I kissed him softly on the lips.

"I know we can."

We went upstairs and packed our stuff in silence. We were both bummed out, but we both understood that we had to make decisions that might not sound good and plain sucked, but were the best in the long run. Eric and I promised his grandparents we would return for a visit as soon as we got the chance, which meant, as soon as my parents finally let me live my life.

Eric had strapped our luggage onto the motorcycle, and he patted it lovingly. Boys and their toys, something I would never understand. He grinned at me, looking innocent and almost oblivious to the fact we were on the run from my evil parents. Eric fished a pack of cigarettes from his jacket, raised an eyebrow at me, asking for my permission to smoke. So far for the innocence. I nodded, even though I didn't think it was good to smoke, and I wasn't fond of the smell and taste, but I let him have his moment. He probably was nervous, even though he almost never showed it, and smoking helped him relax. He lit it, took a drag and playfully blowed circles. He looked so amused and concentrated by doing this it made me giggle. He gave me a wink and continued blowing the round shapes into the windstill air.

"Eric Northman! You put that poison out right now!" Hedwig stormed outside.

Eric jumped up from the surprise and pouted.

"But I was blowing circles. Sookie likes them." He whined. If anyone else did this, it would've been childish and stupid. Eric made it look adorable and you would just want to hug him.

"It's okay Hedwig. He can smoke this one."

She let out a theatrical sigh and gave me a last hug before we had to take off, "have a safe journey. Call us once you arrive wherever you're going to strand. We put some extra cash in his wallet."

Before I could protest she had me wrapped in a big hug, again. It was almost like my lack of hugs was being made up right now. Niall had wished both Eric and me a safe journey as well, he also had another talk with Eric. Eric told me he liked those talks, because he finally was being expected to act like an adult, and he was being treated as one. He joked that the teacher's at his old school would be amazed at his change in personality.

"Goodbye Hedwig."

"Bye gran!" Eric shouted, and placed the helmet on his head, then holding out mine. I grabbed it and shooved it over my head. I climbed on the motorcycle and waved at Hedwig and Niall –Niall had walked outside when we started to drive- and soon we were out of the street. Off to our next destination.


	13. Chapter 13: Take On The World

**AN: Hey peepz. Here's another update. I'm on vacation right now, so I don't know when the next update will be. The next 3 chapters are already written, however, so it depends on internet connection. I'm in New Mexico right now, and today we'll be driving to Flagstaff. Just so you know.  
Ok. I'll shut up and let you read the new chappy.**

* * *

We were on the road, again. We hadn't even had a full day's rest. It annoyed me, but I forced myself to make peace with it. We were –after all- on the run. I turned to the positive aspects of the situation; I got to spend a fuckload of time with Sookie, ride on my motorcycle a lot and to live in the moment which was something I had always wanted in life. I never knew what it was like to be this impulsive. The whole impulsive act on your instict-thing was something I enjoyed, maybe more so because I was with Sookie the whole time. She truly was the best influence on me.

Her little arms were wrapped around my leathercovered waist, hugging her body close to mine. She was more comfortable on the motorcycle now, and I could feel it. She shifted positions every once in a while and stretched her legs a bit when we waited for a traffic light. We were now entering the more populated areas, with Shreveport –a city- as our final destination. Shreveport was big, had enough potential homes, jobs I could work and our friends wouldn't have to travel that far to visit. From my grandparent's house it would be an hour and a half drive. Which –in my opinion- wasn't that long. Before we could let people come over, we had to settle down. Pam's parents had a appartment in the center of the city, which we could live in for a while. Her parents never used it, Pam did sometimes, but only to bring back her conquests when she would go out. For a first home, it was pretty good, even it was temporarily. Pam would give us a call when we had to move out, even though those chances were slim, and we would check into a cheap hotel or something if we hadn't found our own place. Sookie thought it was a good plan, mostly because it wouldn't be on our name, so it was harder to track us down. Sookie had some CSI-like thinking, and maybe that would be for the best. I was oblivious to that stuff. I barely watched tv.

It took us the exact hour and a half to reach the apartment. It was in a broad street, with townhouses on each side, on both sides there were huge trees lining the sidewalk. It was pretty much New York City-esque, except we hadn't spotted that many cabs, the amount of sky scrapers wasn't shocking and it wasn't that crowded. I parked my motorcycle in the tiny garage at the side of the house and walked to the front with the bags in my hand. Sookie looked at me with big eyes in shock.

"I hadn't expected this." she said, the surprise clear in her voice.

"Me neither. She said it wasn't that big, but this is huge. And in the center of town as well." We were both staring at the house with our mouths hanging open. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Wanna check out the inside?" I asked her while shaking the key in front of her face. She nodded with enthusiasm. I opened the front door and let Sookie enter the house first.

"Get out."

I stepped in and stopped beside her.

"Jesus fucking Christ. You have got to be fucking with me."

Sookie flinched a little at my foul language.

"Oh I'm sorry. That was rude. Sorry."

Sookie giggled and shook her head, grabbed my hand and pulled me along. Together we walked through the whole house, opening each door and have pillowfights with the many pillows that were scattered around the house. Seriously, who needed that much pillows. I bet Pam and her mom shared the same urge to decorate everything. Sookie and I were walking through a catalogue.

There were two floors, plus an attic that was converted into a fitness room. The kitchen was huge and bright, just like the living room. The bathrooms were all modern updated, but had their old antique style. I had spotted a liquorcabinet, filled with top-notch stuff. However, the best part was the master bedroom. The bed was huge, and we already tried it out by rolling over it and indulging ourselves in a quick makeout session. Which got me thinking about doing other stuff in the bed as well. Hell, I might've listed all the possible surfaces to have sex on in the entire house. I could name 30 already.

Sookie decided to make a quick dinner by using the ingredients from the fully stocked fridge. She also had a look on her face that told me she had the same ideas as me. There were no parents, no worries (not now at least) and we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted. Sookie had prepared sandwiches, which we ate up quickly, and as soon as she had swallowed the last bite I was on her like a lion attacking it's prey.

We had christened three rooms when we were done.

"I don't think I can walk tomorrow." Sookie whined after we cuddled up on the couch, wrapped in the blankets we found somewhere along the road through the house. I chuckled and brushed a strand of hair from her face.

"Then I'll carry you around the house."

She placed her chin on my chest and looked at me with skeptical eyes.

"You couldn't carry me all day."

I mock-gasped and placed a hand over my heart.

"Are you doubting my masculinity?" I flexed the muscles in my arms, making her giggle in the most adorable way. She shook her head slowly, something in her eyes telling me she was up to no good. Suddenly I felt her hand travel down my stomach, calling me to attention. She grabbed the base of my cock, gave it one slow pump and then released me.

"No. Still all man."

No. Minx. Damn. The smile and look she gave me when she stood up was almost enough to make me come right there and then. Too bad she stood up and walked away, wrapped in her blue and gold embroided blanket. Why the hell did I even care about the stupid colours? I want to see what's underneath it.

"Sookie that's so not fair!" I whined from my place on the couch. I could hear her laugh in the other room, thinking she had won. I wasn't surrendering that easily. The blanket remained on the couch, since I couldn't be bothered by it. Plus, I'm scandinavian. I love to be naked. Especially when I'm naked with Sookie.

"Oh Sookie." I called out. There was a soft giggle coming from the kitchen. My body and mind followed the sound, and I discovered Sookie eating a bowl of icecream, wearing the biggest grin and nothing else for the rest. My jaw may have dropped.

"You want some?"

She sounded so innocent, she even looked innocent. Too bad she couldn't trick me into falling for it. I knew she could tease the shit out of me if she wanted to, and knew exactly which buttons to push to make me go crazy. All I could do was nod slowly and stalk towards her.

"But I'm not in the mood for icecream right now." I said slowly, the way I knew that would drive her crazy –two could play this game. She gasped when I lifted her on the table, threw away her spoon and grabbed a condom from one of the bowls we had placed around the house and entered her in one swift thrust. Her muscles clamped around me, almost making me come right there. It was hard and fast, and we both came in record time. She came while screaming my name and I came while growling hers. Sookie slumped against my chest, while I was struggling to stand up straight.

"You're killing me," I groaned in her tousled hair after regaining my normal breath pattern.

"Why would I do that? You're supposed to carry me around tomorrow." She mumbled into my chest. It was her favorite place to snuggle, her head on my chest.

A laugh escaped my throat.

"I forgot about that."

Sookie tsked a couple of times.

"Don't. I'm relying on you here." She yawned, but was quickly to cover her mouth with her hand, "I'm so tired right now. You've worn me out."

"Yeah I did," that earned me a soft slap, "let's have a quick shower and go to bed, okay?"

She nodded, and slowly stood up. We grabbed new blankets on the way up the stairs, since it was getting pretty chilly. I started up the shower, while Sookie brushed her teeth, and when it was the right temperature I picked her up and placed her under the spray, which wasn't hard because it was a rainshower and made it possible for us to be under the spray at the same time. We washed eachother's hair –I had to bent down a bit because I was too tall for her- and we gave eachother a little scrub. If we weren't so tired we would've been more thorough, but we decided that the bathing session would be saved for another time. We could even use the huge tub next to the shower. I dried Sookie off with a big fluffy towel and gave her one off my shirts to sleep in, she mumbled something about 'liking the smell of me around her'. I loved it when she was talking nonsense. When I told her so she gave me another playful slap. I gently laid her down in the bed and gave her a soft kiss. She fell asleep immediately. I've really worn her out. I was actually proud of myself, even though I was wornout myself.

I dried myself off and pulled on some flannel pyjamabottoms. It wasn't that late and I figured at least Niall would still be up, so I grabbed my cellphone and called him up.

"Eric! Good to hear from you so soon. Everything went well I assume?"

"Yeah. We're settled in. The place is huge, gigantic. So fucking sick," I forgot that I had to watch my language when talking to my grandparents, a cough from Niall made me realize it, "I mean, really sick. Sookie's asleep right now. I'm pretty tired as well. Just wanted to let you know we're good. Nothing bad happened while her father came over, right?"

I heard some shuffling on the other side of the line. Niall would probably sit down in his big armchair right now. The thing was wornout and old, but he never got rid off it. He always sat in it, always. His deep voice pulled me from my armchair-musings.

"No. We waved him off, claiming we had no idea where you two were. The man bought it, or at least it looked that way. He seemed lost as to where he had to search. So you have nothing to worry about for the time being."

I let out a sigh, relieved by the news. Things could've gone wrong, thank God, they haven't. Sookie will be less nervous as well, knowing that we could relax and wouldn't have to worry about getting caught.

"I have a job for you if you want one. It's in the neighbourhood and it pretty good money. I have a friend that's renovating old properties and they could use someone like you. I'll give his number and you can call him if you're interested. Tomorrow would be a good time to call him."

Niall gave me the guy's, whose name was Herveaux, mobile phone number and we said goodnight. I promised him that I would call him tomorrow, updating him on the Herveaux-situation and to let him talk to Sookie.

All in all, it had been an awesome day. The ending anyway. It still sucked we had to leave my granparents so soon. But at least I had a chance to see them, and Sookie had the chance to meet them. Niall and Hedwig loved her, and told me so. Well, they said 'why does such a sweet girl fall for you', but it was a joke that I could laugh about, because I wondered about that myself a lot. I guess I'm just a lucky guy. I walked back into the bedroom, taking in Sookie's sleeping form. She looked peaceful and happy, a small smile on her lips. I slid in bed behind her, the curves of her small body automaticly molding against mine. We were a puzzle. From a distance you would think we couldn't get comfortable at all, but when you put us together, it fitted. I've never been more comfortable than when I had my Sookie locked up in my arms. A content sigh escaped her, and I couldn't help but think that I wouldn't mind to fall asleep with Sookie in my arms for the rest of my life.


	14. Chapter 14: Rainbow

**AN: Hey! Remember me? It's been a while. Yeah, I have no other excuses than; I was on vacation and I completely forgot about the outside world, including this story and relying to reviews. I'm sorry about that. The feedback people give means a lot to me and I will try to reply to them from now on. The other excuse is the start of school. I'm in my final year and the teacher's are -even though we've been at school for 4 days- busting our asses to make sure everyone graduates without a problem. Yeah, it's the first week of school we are already prepped with their insane peptalks that scare the shit out of me and stress everyone out. I've already written more chapters, so I'll probably update weekly.  
I'll shut up now and let you read the new chappychap.**

* * *

My jaw was on the floor when I took in the interior of the house. This was something I hadn't expected. I had made peace with the fact we would have to start out in a cramped home, with outdated plumbing and very few luxuries. Eric hadn't mentioned starting out in a historical townhouse, with modern appliances and the most comfortable couches and beds ever. It was a beautiful home, and I wondered why the people who owned it didn't occupate the building more. Eric told me the home was owned by his friend's parents, and they rarely used it. They would have to be loaded, homes likes this weren't cheap, and they didn't even use it. Talk about having too much money to spend. I wasn't in the right place to be judgemental, however, since my parents owned several properties themselves, but I never reaped the benefits of having multiple homes. My parents kept me close to home and visited them together, leaving me at home to study. I hadn't seen the world, whereas my parents had been all around it, visiting different cultures and taking in the miracles of the earth. That would be one of the things I also wanted to do; travel. I had been locked up in my life long enough, and now I wanted to taste the freedom that was so close to me now.

Next to the fact we were now bathing in luxury, there also was the benefit of being harder to track down. That maybe was a step too far, since I didn't expect my father to take such measures. He couldn't.

Eric and I went on a adventure by going through the house room for room. We were both astonished by the amount of pillows, and before I knew it we were running around, throwing pillows and smacking eachother. Somehow it ended in making out on the huge 4-post bed in the masterbedroom. Well, I wasn't going to complain.

After having a couple of rounds of amazing sex, in different rooms of the house, on different surfaces and enjoying the fact we were completely alone, I found myself in the bathroom getting dried of by Eric. My body was tired, as was my mind. I was struggling not to fall asleep standing right there. Eric gave me one of his shirts, which I enjoyed, since I loved to be envelopped in the musky manly scent that Eric carried with him. I mumbled that, making him laugh. I used my last strenght to slap him.

Eric laid me down on the soft matress, giving me a soft kiss on the lips. My eyes were already closed, and sleep took over in a recordtime.

I entered a home, a nice traditional home with the white fence. A dog walked with me, up the stairs of the porch and followed me inside. Inside there was the laughing and cheering of children. The sound pulled me to the room. Eric was there, playing with a young boy, who as soon as he saw me shouted for me. He ran towards me, wrapping his arms around my legs. The little boy's eyes were the same icy blue as Eric's, but I could see some features that respresented mine. His little nose for example. I looked over at where Eric was standing, he was carrying a little girl, who was around 3 years old, on his hip. We smiled at eachother, savoring the happy moment.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang coming from the hallway. Men with black uniforms stormed into the living room, parting the little girl and Eric. Eric was being pulled into the hallway roughly, shouting my name. The children were crying, shouting for their daddy. I ran outside, following the men and the struggling Eric. He was being pulled into a van, which drove away. I shouted his name, desperate.

"Sookie! Calm down."

Eric was holding me tight when I woke up, crushed into his embrace. My cheeks were wet, I had cried. I whiped the wetness from my face and looked into Eric's eyes. They were filled with worry and sadness. He brushed hair from my forehead, the strands were glued to my forehead. That was intense, I don't think I ever had a worse dream. I felt as if I was going to empty the contents of my stomach in the toilet in a few seconds. Eric's soft touches helped me calm down, thank God. I squeezed my eyes shut and listened to the thump of his heart against his chest.

"You had a nightmare, I think. Are you feeling better now?" he asked me softly, placing kisses on my temples and holding me even closer to his body. I was still gathering myself together, willing my breathing to even out. At least I wasn't crying anymore.

"I dreamt we had a family," my voice was incredibly hoarse, I probably shouted the things in my nightmare out loud, "we had a home and a son and daughter. Even a dog. You were playing with your son and he ran up to me to say hello. After that you held your daughter. They both had your eyes and my nose."

I grimaced a bit, the worst part had yet to come. The way I told Eric my nightmare, it sounded more like a dream.

"Suddenly, you were taken away from me. It was terrible."

I could feel tears well up in my eyes again. I sat up to face him, cupping his face with my hands.

"Promise me you'll never leave." I asked him in a whisper. I knew he already said he wouldn't, and I believed him, but I needed the reassurance right now. Eric leaned into my touches, giving me the most intense look I've ever been subjected to. His icy blue eyes that I had seen in our dream-children were blazing with emotion.

"I promise that I will never leave."

I smiled through my tears and moved in to kiss him, but Eric leaned back. I looked at him with questions in my eyes, he returned a smug look.

"Pinky promise," and he held out his left hand with the pinky stretched out. A laugh escaped me, and I hooked my pinky around his.

"Pinky promise." I repeated him, and now Eric was the one to go in for the kiss. A nightmare-pinky-promise-filled wake-up resulted in the best morning sex we had so far.

We showered together again –you know, for the environment and all- and we both found we could enjoy showering together without having sex. There was a part in my body screaming to attack him when I saw the beads of water running over his chest, but my brain told me to enjoy his presence, and what a presence it was.

I changed into a simple jeans and tshirt, one of Eric's since a lot of my clothing was left behind in my old home. Eric just slipped into one of his jeans, skipping the shirt. It was a nice surprise when I walked into the kitchen, a shirtless Eric. He only made the surprise better when he told me he was making french toast, a favorite of mine. When he finished making a stack, we both started eating.

"Does the nightmare still bother you?" he asked me with his mouth full, giving him a boyish charm instead of a slobbish one. There was a pang in my chest, I hadn't thought about it after my second orgasm. But now, it was back to haunt my every thought. I swallowed my french toast with a big effort. Eric was startled with the sudden shift in my mood. There was a long silence. Eric was staring at me with confused eyes, I could feel his eyes burning a hole in my skull, whereass I kept my eyes focused on the full plate in front of me. I wasn't hungry anymore, and absentmindedly played with my food.

It wasn't good to shut him out, but I couldn't deal with it right now. The whole situation made me think of how devastated I would be when we were forced to be apart. I couldn't deal with that. Why I couldn't tell Eric that right now, I didn't know.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," he muttered and he gave me a quick kiss, "I need to call someone that can set me up with a job. You still hungry?"

I shook my head, and he grabbed my plate, throwing the rest of the toast in the bin and left the room to make his phonecall, taking the air with him, while I kept myself seated at the granite kitchen island to gather myself together.

In the corner of my eye I saw that there were french doors that opened into a small garden, surrounded by brick walls covered in vines. Fresh air sounded nice, so I stood up and walked outside. It wasn't freezing, and the sun felt warm on my skin. My mood improved immediately. Being outside always managed to do that for me. I sat down in one of the wooden lounge chairs, which were –surprise, surprise- covered with fluffy pillows. The small garden reminded me of a fairytale, with all the green surrounding me. In my mind I started planning out dinner, and how we could eat outside. It was a welcome distraction from the fear of being parted. I was overreacting, it was just a dream. A very nasty one, but a dream nonetheless.

Somehow I had managed to drift off on the soft lounge chairs, and was woken by the closing of the big glass doors. I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and looked at Eric who was standing there. His blond hair was roughed up and you would assume a whole crew of hairdressers had worked on his hair, while in fact, he did nothing to make it look that way. It made me a little bit jealous. My hair was a tough job, especially in the mornings with a major case of bedhair. Eric pulled it all off.

"Why does your hair always look good?" I asked him with a pout. He laughed heartily, a true laugh. Eric was good at faking laughs and smiles, and I knew exactly when and how he did so. This was a sincere one, and it made me laugh with him.

"I got a job," he said when we had both calmed down, "I can start tomorrow."

I cheered and did a fist pump, making him laugh yet again. He even bowed curtiously, with a hand over his heart.

"I know, I know. I'm so proud of myself."

He sat down in the lounge chair facing mine.

"We should buy you some more clothes. You can't walk around in my clothes all the time."

I looked down at his grey v-neck tshirt.

"But I like wearing your clothes." I whined, childish.

"I like you wearing my clothes too, it looks hot," he wiggled his eyebrows and if he had been closer I would've smacked him on the arm. Instead I gasped theatricly.

"That's no talk for a gentleman. But anyway, you're right. I can't walk around in your rags for the rest of my life. Let me change and then we can look around in the neighbourhood to see where we can buy clothes."

"And condoms." Eric added.

"Hush you," I stood up and pulled him along with me, I was excited to go into the neighbourhood, "you go grab our transport, and I'll meet you out front."

He nodded, gave me chaste peck on the lips and smacked my ass when I ran up the stairs. I squeeled from the surprise, making him roar with laughter. I would get him back for that.

2 hours later we were sitting in a little café, sipping our coffee. If you would look at us, you wouldn't expect that we were both runaways. Instead, you would see a normal teenage couple. We weren't different from anyone else here, and there was no suspicion.  
The young waitress came over to our table for the third time to 'check up on us'. Right. Everyone could see she was eyefucking my boyfriend. It irritated me, because obviously our handholding wasn't enough of a hint to understand he was with me. I kept quiet however, I didn't want to cause a scene.

She glanced Eric a smile, and gave me a cold stare. Ooookay.

"Can I get you something else? Anything." She purred.

"Yeah. You could leave me alone so I can have a conversation with my_ girlfriend_ without being interrupted."

The girl turned around immediately, after muttering some cursewords directed at Eric. He simply grinned at me and took another sip of his coffee with those sparkles in his eyes. I grinned back, glad for what he said, even though that wasn't very kind off me. The girl did deserve it, sort off. We enjoyed our coffee and talked about our purchases. We had found a cute boutique owned by an old lady, named Claudine. She was very kind and helped me with finding new clothes, she even gave us a discount. The old woman reminded me of Hedwig, but calmer, and her kind smiles made me feel comforted and warm. Claudine was also enamored with Eric. I swear she even made him blush with all her compliments, which was a rare occurance.

"I don't have to get worried, do I Claudine?" I joked with her. Her infectuous laughter filled the small shop.

"You have nothing to worry about," she handed me a lace trimmed top, "you can see he loves you very much."

We promised to come back again, and we were all looking forward to it.

There also was a supermarket at a walking distance from our current home and a couple of small cafés like this one. They gave the streets a European charm.

We finished our coffee, since it was already getting dark, we had been out for a long time inspecting our surroundings and making out under a big tree in one of the parks. Eric left money on the table and we both jumped on the motorcycle again. We would leave it at home the next time, since we could easily get around by foot. Eric could even walk to his new job.

When we set foot into our home (it felt nice to say _our _home, even though it wasn't really ours) and I sent Eric upstairs to put away my new clothes so I could start on dinner. I made a simple pasta, that we ate outside. In the dark, the little garden was even more pretty. There were small lights everywhere, placed between the bushes and on the ground, it was breathtaking.

"That was really good." Eric said, tomatosauce around his mouth and a red stain on his white shirt.

"What?" he asked confused when I was doubled over in laughter. When he was starting to get irritated I slowly licked the sauce from his face while straddling his lap.

"Next time I'll eat with no hands if that's how you're going to clean me up," his voice husky and low.

I think he enjoyed the shower after it even more.


	15. Chapter 15: Better Times

**AN: There are some rough roads ahead for these two. Just remember; everything will turn out alright.**

* * *

It was winter now. There was a thin layer of snow covering the small garden in which we had spent so much time in, eating, laughing and doing other stuff when we had arrived. There were times I didn't even feel like I had ran away from home, leaving my only family behind without saying goodbye. Sometimes, it just felt like I had lived someone else's life and now was a whole other person. I guess that was true. Eric and I were happy together. I had someone who loved me unconditionally, someone who cared for me deeply and someone who made sure I would be okay. He also had the power to get me off in the most amazing ways. He also had no brainfilter, which was rubbing off on me. I digress. That wasn't something I had planned for myself, not expecting it to happen for me anyway. After I realized that my life wouldn't be filled with romance and love I just accepted my destiny that consisted of a husband I never wanted to have, but in the end would do fine. My mother actually explained it to me with those words. She said; "in the end you'll realize he'll do fine, and then you can find it in your heart to love him." I didn't want that. Why would I search my heart for love, when it could be found so easily, but with another person? In walked Eric, who made me realize I could live a life that I had wanted for myself. The only bad thing about him was that my parents wouldn't approve, and they never ever would. The main reason for us to run away.

Eric was at work now. He had a job renovating houses with the owner's son, Alcide. From the few times I saw him he didn't look bad. Not at all. He was handsome –though he wasn't Eric- with his rugged features and lumberjack appearance. Alcide was kind and had good manners, and he had a smile that was infectuous. Eric didn't seem to like him that much, or at least hadn't warmed up to him yet, but that didn't bother me. Eric was someone who kept his guards up and his feelings tucked away. You could earn his trust by showing you were worthy of receiving it, and to pair that up with the fact we were hiding from the public it seemed logical to not give Alcide information that could ruin our plans. Well, whatever plans we had. Eric and I never discussed what we would do if we were kicked out, found or seperated. We could live comfortably from the money Eric made, and we were happy, so I didn't bother with planning ahead and neither did he.

I zipped up Eric's hoody, which hit me midthigh, the cold air making me shiver, and walked back into the kitchen, closing the big french door that led to it. Dinner was cooking, and the table was ready for Eric and I to eat on. So there was not much left to do. There was nothing else for me to do except for doing the thing I dreaded most. A wave of panic, one of the many waves I had this last couple of days, came over me and once again I called Amelia. She picked up after the second ring, thank God.

"Shees, Sook. You need to breath slowly." She wasn't trying to be funny, she had stopped trying after my third call and I broke down and sobbed for an hour because of it. Not little sobs, but high-pitched whale-like sobs, appareantly enough reason for Amelia not to crack jokes. My minor panic attack was fading and my breathing returned to normal. Amelia coached me through the whole thing.

"I can't." I breathed out.

"I know it's hard sweetie, but you have to do it. Just to be sure. I'll stick with you the whole time okay." Even though Amelia could come over as a girl who did what she wanted, when she wanted, she also was a person who honestly cared for me, and by extension for Eric.

"Even when I pee? Because I don't know if I'll be able to with you listening." my voice croaked, from crying as soon as Eric walked out of the door to go to work.

There was a short silence.

"Fair enough, I'll be with you most of the time. Grab the bag and call me when you're done. And no excuses this time, this time you're going to do it. You've done everything you could possibly think of to postpone it and I'm sure the house is squeeky clean and there isn't even a small piece of dust left. Just do it."

She spoke with such determination I just gave up and promised to call her back. She was right though, I had done everything I could to not take the tests. I even counted the black tiles in the kitchen, and after that, the white ones. And I did that twice, to be sure.

I sighed and grabbed the small plastic bag from the counter, that I had hidden from Eric in the back of my closet and then pulled out every day, glancing at it and putting it back when Eric would be home. Right now, I still had an hour or so before he would return.

My, in warm woollen socks covered, feet were dragging over the floor. My sweaty left hand clutched the plastic bags that held the tests, and my right hand clutched the phone.

"Damn. I really have to pee." I gritted through my teeth, and my feet shuffled a little faster until they had reached the cold white tiles that decorated the downstairs bathroom. My lungs pushed a large puff of air out, which reminded me of something I might have to do roughly 9 months later. _Great, _I thought to myself. When did I became such a punchingbag for bad karma?

"Ohmygod Sook. What do they say?" Amelia screeched, instead of a greeting, I couldn't really blame her though, but she could've spared my hearing.

"It takes a couple of minutes."

Minutes. It felt like hours already, and not even a minute had passed. My lazer-eyes were burning holes into the counter, hoping to influence the outcomes. I was fighting a lost cause and was in serious denial. My period never came, and I was never late. Except for now. And my breasts became sensitive, and Eric would definitely pick up the fact that they were increasing in size. Eric liked my breasts and gave them a lot of attention, he said so himself. Repeatedly.

"Don't you think Eric already knows?" That was my futile attempt to sooth myself, ofcourse he didn't know. I blamed the morning sickness on the flu, which he seemed to buy, and most of the times he was already of to work when I got sick. Nothing in his behaviour gave me reasons to think he even suspected.

"You need to tell him if you are." Amelia said, the tone in her voice let me know she meant bussiness.

"Amelia, you know I will." And I meant it. I couldn't lie straight to his face, and since he obviously would be the father, there was no reason he shouldn't know. Not after all he had done for me. It still was a conversation I wanted to avoid. How would you even bring it up?

'Hey. How was work? I'm pregnant.' I doubt that would work.

"But it's so hard. What if he leaves me," my eyes glanced in the direction of the three test lying next to eachother, perfectly lined up because of my neurotic tendency to tidy everything. Even pregnancy tests covered in my pee.

Positive. All three of them. It felt as if they were ganging up on me, with their little positive-symbols. Not even the fight between my parents and me, which lead to Eric and I running away left me feeling _this _contradicted. My emotions were all over the place, not being able to choose between being happy and relieved or feelings that were on the other end of the spectrum. My bottom lip quivered. I wanted to cry, and I knew that it was perfectly okay and in my right to do so, but I longed to be strong and feel confident with the fact I could raise this child on my own. I might need to. Wrong thought. I bawled and re-introduced Amelia with my whale-sobbing.

"What if he leaves _us_?"

"He wouldn't." Amelia answered immediately. She must've picked up on the plural form I used.

"We don't have enough money to raise a baby. We haven't even finished high school. What about the doctor's appointments, those cost money too!"

"Sookie. Calm down and talk to Eric first. He should be home pretty soon right? So just tell him first, and you'll figure something out. Please, calm down."

The conversation went on for a little while longer, with my best friend trying and saying anything to stop me from having a full blown panic attack and me freaking out over every little thing that had something to do with me being pregnant. I promised to call her back when I heard the front door open and close, with Eric calling out for me when he probably didn't see me rummaging around in the kitchen. My stomach turned, and for the first time it had nothing to do with the baby growing in me. I snatched the boxes and the tests from their positions and stuffed them in the plastic back, and put that away in a cupboard under the porcelain sink. After washing my hands I opened the door.

"Eric?" I called out, my voice still shaky from all the events that had taken place an hour ago. I saw him walking into the hallway. Striding, would be a better word to define his walk, with his shoulders squared and his arms loosely swinging with every step. A confused expression on his face, his eyebrows furrowed. Standing in front of me and wrapping my body in his arms took Eric three steps and a couple of seconds. You'd think he'd smell bad after a whole day of working, but no, he didn't smell bad after gardening all day, so he won't smell bad fixing up a house all day. I breathed in his scent, my face hidden in the grey fabric of his shirt.

"Sookie," his fingers brushed away a strand of hair that had escaped my ponytail, "are you okay?"

_He'll leave. __He'll leave._ Became my personal mantra.

"Sookie." His tone became serious. I couldn't find the courage to respond, or tell him. He lifted up my chin, forcing me to make eyecontact.

"Shit. What's wrong?" Stupid puffy red eyes.

I shrugged. "Nothing."

"You cried." he deadpanned.

"So?" _I'm so late. Lame. I'm so lame._

"What were you doing in there?" the frustration in Eric's voice was obvious. Hell, I was getting frustrated with myself.

"Nothing."

"That's bullshit," I flinched, Eric didn't. His blue eyes were staring at me, I could feel them on me. I shuffled out of his embrace, put on a fake smile and told him dinner would be ready in a minute. Eric let me walk away, but didn't move to make me think he would be following me. _This day is a day from hell. _

Pushing the sad panda feelings from my mind, and putting the ovenbaked potatoes in a bowl were both proving to be very hard. There was guilt nagging away in my brain for letting Eric in the dark and making him frustrated for no good reason.

I put the bowl of potatoes on the table and sat down after calling Eric. We ate our dinner in complete silence. And not the good kind. Eric was pouting and staring holes into his plate. I gave up trying to make conversation after two sentences. Eric finished dinner in half the time I finished mine, as usual, and cleared up both our plates. I put the leftovers in little plastic boxes and left them to cool off. We still hadn't spoken. Amelia would kill me.

"Eric." I whispered and placed a hand on his shoulder. He left out a long sigh before shrugging my hand away and turned to face me. He rubbed a hand over his face and through his hair.

"There is something you're not telling me, and I don't like that. Why do you feel the need to hide something from me? Don't you trust me?"

Tears welled up in my eyes after hearing what he said and asked. Eric immediately flinched and stroked the tears that stained my cheeks away. Eric and crying wasn't a good combination, and I doubt it ever would be. Little did he know he might be surrounded with crying for at least the next two years.

"I do trust you. And I love you so much."

"I love you too, but can you please tell me what's wrong." His eyes were begging and so was he. I took a deep breath.

"I'm pregnant."

Eric's eyes grew large, and his jaw dropped on the floor. I could see the wheels turning in his head, and chose to stay silent. Eric opened and closed his mouth, wanting to say something. "You're pregnant." It was a statement that could also easily be mistaken for a question. I've been with Eric long enough to know the difference.

"Yes. I'm pregnant." Another silence with Eric messing up his hair with every hand that wandered through it. If he kept going at it he might pull it all out.

"Are you sure? That you're pregnant?"

"Yes I'm sure. About being pregnant. I took three tests, they were all positive." Eric's lack of enthusiasm wasn't exactly shocking, and to be honest his facial expressions were pure gold, but he should be smart enough to realize I'm telling the truth.

"When? How? We used condoms."

The urge to roll my eyes became bigger and bigger.

"I don't know when. I should've had my period two weeks ago. And condoms don't always work, mister. Now can you please just say more than one sentence. Since you´re obviously the daddy you get to have a say for this baby too."

Eric's eyes shot up at the mention of the word 'daddy' and he got the deer-in-the-headlights look all down to a tee. Great.

His left hand tentatively found it's place on my stomach. Maybe he would poke it, to make sure an alien wouldn't jump out and grab onto his head.

"I think I need to sit down for a moment." He mumbled with his eyes still trained on my belly button, as if he wanted to x-ray-vision his way into my uterus to see if I was telling the truth.

With the speed of a sloth he managed to sit down without passing out. Hopefully, he wouldn't. Minutes passed, with him sitting on that chair and me waiting for him to freak out or at least say something that would get me out of this turmoil.

"Eric.." the silence became too much. Eric held up his hand in a stop motion.

"Just give me a second."

I nodded and left the kitchen. On my way out I grabbed the phone, needing to call someone that could help us –or at this moment, me. My hands were shaking, but with a little effort I dialed the number of Eric's grandparents.

"Helloo," Hedwig's enthusiastic greeting made me feel even worse, "Eric is that you?"

"No, it's Sookie."

"Hey Sookie! Is something wrong? Did Eric do something stupid again?"

_Depends on how you look at it. _

"No. Can you come over tommorow? There's something I need to tell you and it's really important."

We rounded up the phonecall quickly, setting a time and having small talk. I could do small talk. When I hung up and looked up, Eric was standing in the dooropening, leaning against the wooden frame surrounding it.

"Your grandparents are coming over tommorow for lunch."

Hedwig had insisted on the fact Niall should come too, since he wanted to see us too. I had no other option than agreeing. Like Eric, Hedwig had little trouble getting what she wanted. That, and fatigue had taken over.

"I don't have to work tommorow, so that's convenient. Are we going to tell them?"

Eric sat down next to me on the sofa and pulled me into his embrace and kissed my temple. I hadn't missed the use of the word _we._

"We'll be fine." Eric whispered in my ear. I wanted to believe we would be.

"Yeah," I laced my fingers with his, "we'll be fine."


End file.
